CDK Global

Last updated
CDK Global, Inc.
Company type Private
Nasdaq: DK
IndustrySoftware
Founded2014;10 years ago (2014)
Headquarters Austin, Texas, U.S.
Key people
Brian P. MacDonald (president & CEO) [1] [2]
ProductsSoftware for automotive retail
RevenueIncrease2.svg US$1.67 billion (2021)
Decrease2.svg US$425 million (2021)
Increase2.svg US$1.03 billion (2021)
Total assets Decrease2.svg US$2.71 billion (2021)
Total equity Increase2.svg US$495 million (2021)
Owner Brookfield Business Partners
Number of employees
6,500 (2021)
Website cdkglobal.com
Footnotes /references
[3]

CDK Global Inc. is an American multinational corporation based in Austin, Texas, providing data and technology to the automotive, heavy truck, recreation, and heavy equipment industries. [4] [5]

Contents

The company has 37 locations in 25 countries [6] and its products are sold in over 100 countries, [5] however most of its customers are in the United States. [7] [8] In 2020, the company ranked 911 on the Fortune 1000 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. [9]

Products

CDK Global provides integrated information technology and digital marketing to the automotive, heavy truck, recreation, and heavy equipment industries. [7] [2] The company's products help to integrate clients buying processes and include targeted advertising and marketing, as well as products for the sale, financing, insuring, parts supply, repair, and maintenance of vehicles. [7] [4] [10] Competitors include Reynolds and Reynolds, Tekion, and Dealertrack. [11]

History

The company has its origins as the Dealer Services division of Automatic Data Processing (ADP), which was formed in 1973 after ADP acquired National Inventory Control System, Portland OR (NICS) and Computer System Inc., Cincinnati, OH (CSI) providing computerized Accounting, Financial Reporting, Sales Analysis, Lease Accounting, Parts Inventory Control, Customer Relations, Management Systems for both Sales and Service, and Payroll Services for automotive dealerships. [12] [13] As ADP Dealer Services, the division was subsequently built up of more than 30 acquisitions completed over the next 41 years. [14]

On October 1, 2014, ADP Dealer Services division was spun-off to form the independent company CDK Global. [15] [16] The CDK in the company's name was inspired from different acquisitions; C from Cobalt Digital Marketing, [17] D from the original ADP Dealer Services business, and K from Kerridge Computer Company, a UK-based dealer management system (DMS) supplier acquired by ADP in 2005. [18] [19]

Notable acquisitions include BZ Results, winner of AutoSuccess magazine's 2005 “Innovative Company of the Year” award, [20] by ADP in 2006. [21]

In May 2017, CDK Global announced its intention to acquire rival DMS supplier Auto/Mate Dealership Systems, [22] but the proposed acquisition was blocked by the Federal Trade Commission in March 2018 on the grounds that it would reduce competition in an already concentrated market. [23] [24]

In 2020, CDK Global announced the sale of its international operations (to be called Keyloop) to Francisco Partners, as an effort to focus more on its North American business. [25] [26]

On April 7, 2022, CDK Global agreed to be acquired by Brookfield Business Partners and institutional partners for a total enterprise value of $8.3 billion. The deal offered CDK investors $54.87 for each share held, representing a 30% premium. [27] [28] Brookfield completed the deal on July 6, 2022. [29] [30]

Antitrust lawsuit

In May 2017, CDK was sued, along with DMS supplier Reynolds and Reynolds, by data integration service provider Authenticom, which alleged that the two companies engaged in anti-competitive conduct and violated antitrust law by conspiring to block third-party access to their data systems in order to create a duopoly. [31] [32] In July 2017, District Judge James Peterson granted a preliminary injunction against CDK and Reynolds and Reynolds, ruling that there was sufficient evidence to find "the existence of a per se illegal horizontal conspiracy" between CDK and Reynolds and Reynolds to divide the data integration market between them and block competitors, and requiring the two companies to "cease blocking Authenticom" from providing "data integration services to dealers who authorize Authenticom to provide this service." [32] [33] In November 2020, CDK settled its lawsuit with Authenticom, agreeing to make a one-time cash payment to Authenticom. [34]

June 2024 ransomware attack

On June 19, 2024, CDK experienced a ransomware attack that took most of its services offline, disrupting thousands of car dealerships across the US and Canada. [35] An Eastern European and Russian hacker group, thought by security researchers to be BlackSuit, claimed responsibility and demanded tens of millions of dollars in ransom. [36] On June 21, CDK paid $25 million in bitcoin to a cryptocurrency account connected with BlackSuit, and on June 23, began the process of restoring services, later advising that the work would not be completed before June 30. [37] [38] By July 4, access for nearly all dealers had been restored. [39]

Shares in CDK's parent company lost over 5.7% value in the wake of the attack, [40] while share prices of large auto dealers Sonic, Group 1 and AutoNation dropped up to 4.4%. [41] JD Power estimated that due to the outage, U.S. retail unit sales in June 2024 would decrease by up to 7.2% from June 2023. [42] At least eight lawsuits alleging negligence were filed against CDK by dealerships whose operations were affected by the outage. [43]

Related Research Articles

Graham Holdings Company is a diversified American conglomerate holding company. Headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia, and incorporated in Delaware, it was formerly the owner of The Washington Post newspaper and Newsweek magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ADP (company)</span> American software company

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) is an American provider of human resources management software and services, headquartered in Roseland, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnson Controls</span> Building systems and facility management firm based in Cork, Ireland

Johnson Controls International plc is an American, Irish-domiciled multinational conglomerate headquartered in Cork, Ireland, that produces fire, HVAC, and security equipment for buildings. As of mid-2019, it employed 105,000 people in around 2,000 locations across six continents. In 2017 it was listed as 389th in the Fortune Global 500. It became ineligible for the Fortune 500 in subsequent years since it relocated its headquarters outside the U.S.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J.D. Power</span> Company

J.D. Power is an American data analytics, software, and consumer intelligence company founded in 1968. The company specializes in the use of big data, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic models examining consumer behavior. The firm's business model has evolved to emphasize data and analytics and software products. Industry benchmarking studies are used to evaluate detailed consumer interactions and trends across the automotive, financial services, healthcare, home, insurance, technology, media and telecom, travel and hospitality, senior living, and utilities industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AutoNation</span> American automotive retailer

AutoNation is an American automotive retailer based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which provides new and pre-owned vehicles and associated services in the United States. The company was founded by Wayne Huizenga in 1996, starting with twelve AutoNation locations, and now has more than 300 retail outlets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinewood Technologies</span>

Pinewood Technologies Group PLC is a business focused on pure-play software-as-a-service for car dealerships. The company is based at Annesley, Nottingham. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonic Automotive</span> American automotive retailing company

Sonic Automotive is a Fortune 500 company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is the fifth largest automotive retailer in the United States as measured by total revenues. The company was founded by O Bruton Smith and completed its initial public offering on the NYSE in 1997.

Asbury Automotive Group is an American company based in Atlanta that operates auto dealerships in various parts of the United States. Founded in 1995, it was ranked No. 360 on the 2022 Fortune 500 list.

Group 1 Automotive, Inc. is an international Fortune 300 automotive retailer with automotive dealerships and collision centers in the United States and the United Kingdom. Group 1 sells new and used cars and light trucks, arranges financial services, provides maintenance and repair services, and sells vehicle parts. As of 2021, the company employs over 13,000 people globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reynolds and Reynolds</span> Private corporation based in Ohio

The Reynolds and Reynolds Company is a private corporation based in Dayton, Ohio. Its primary business is providing business forms, management software and professional services to car dealerships. Its software is used to manage sales logistics at dealerships. It also produces forms used in medicine and insurance.

Manheim, Inc. is an automobile auction company and the world's largest wholesale auto auction, based on trade volume with 145 auctions located in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. As a subsidiary of Cox Automotive, a subsidiary of privately owned Cox Enterprises, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia, Manheim's primary business is wholesaling vehicles via a bidding process using traditional and online formats. Manheim also provides other vital dealership and wholesale services, such as financing, title work, transportation, recovery, auto body repair, dealership management systems, dent repair and automotive reconditioning, and automotive re-marketing at each location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lithia Motors</span> U.S. automotive retailer

Lithia Motors, Inc. is an American nationwide automotive dealership group headquartered in Medford, Oregon. It is the third largest new vehicle automotive dealership group in the United States, below AutoNation and Penske Automotive Group. As of May, 2024, Lithia operates 298 stores in the United States, 14 stores in Canada and 170 in the United Kingdom. Lithia Motors employs approximately 21,150 people.

AutoWeb, Inc. is an automotive media and marketing services company based in Irvine, California.

Solera Inc is an American company based in Texas which provides risk management and asset protection software and services to the automotive industry and property insurance marketplace. Solera also provides digital identity management services, as well as re-underwriting and data analytics for the automotive, property and casualty insurance industries. Solera is active in 88 countries across six continents.

TrueCar, Inc. is an automotive pricing and digital retailing website for new and used car buyers. The service allows users to see what others paid for any new or used vehicle in their local area and receive upfront prices from a network of over 15,000 TrueCar Certified Dealers. TrueCar is paid by dealerships so they can be introduced to and communicate with potential new and used car buyers. TrueCar supports over 1 million new and used car transactions between dealers and its users each year. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, with a sales office Austin, Texas.

Brookfield Property Partners L.P. is a global commercial real estate firm that is a publicly traded limited partnership and a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, an alternative asset management company. Its portfolio includes properties in the office, multi-family residential, retail, hospitality, and logistics industries throughout North America, Europe, and Australia. Its subsidiary Brookfield Properties is responsible for the management of these facilities.

The electric car company Tesla has faced dealership disputes in several US states as a result of local laws. In the United States, direct manufacturer auto sales are prohibited in many states by franchise laws requiring that new cars be sold only by independent dealers.

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. is a publicly traded limited partnership and the primary public vehicle through which Brookfield Corporation, its parent company, owns and operates the business services and industrial operations of its private equity group. It was formed through a spin-off from Brookfield Asset Management in June 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bright Box</span>

Bright Box is a technology company with offices in Switzerland, Russia, Hungary, and the UAE. It develops a connected car platform that links drivers to their cars, and the vehicles to car manufacturers and to dealerships. At the end of 2017 Zurich Insurance Group acquired the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conversica</span>

Conversica is a US-based cloud software technology company, headquartered in San Mateo, California, that provides two-way AI-driven conversational software and a suite of Intelligent Virtual Assistants for businesses to engage customers via email, chat, and SMS.

References

  1. "Our Leadership | CDK Global". www.cdkglobal.com.
  2. 1 2 "CDK | CDK Global Inc. Company Profile & Executives - WSJ". www.wsj.com.
  3. "CDK Global Inc. 2021 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . August 18, 2021.
  4. 1 2 "About | CDK Global". www.cdkglobal.com.
  5. 1 2 "CDK Global Inc". Reuters. June 27, 2024. Archived from the original on April 30, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
  6. "Locations". craft.co. Retrieved 2021-04-24.
  7. 1 2 3 "Do Traders Think CDK Global Inc (CDK) Can Keep Climbing Tuesday?". www.investorsobserver.com.
  8. "CDK Global commands 9.79% market share in Automotive". enlyft.com.
  9. "CDK Global | 2020 Fortune 500". Fortune.
  10. "CDK Global Reports Strong Revenue Growth and Margin Expansion for the First Quarter of Fiscal 2017 and Increases Full Year Earnings Outlook | CDK Global Inc". investors.cdkglobal.com.
  11. Gardner, Greg. "Tekion Sees The Cloud As Key To Streamlining Auto Retailing". Forbes.
  12. Cars and Trucks January-December 1973: Vol 45 Index. National Automobile Dealers Association. 1974-01-01. p. 5.
  13. Vendor Profile: A Publication from INPUT's Vendor Analysis Program. Input Reports and Research Archive Project. 1976. p. 611.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  14. "CDK Global: A Spin-Off Worth Avoiding". seekingalpha.com. October 18, 2014. Retrieved 2021-04-24.
  15. "CDK Global Inc - Company Profile and News". Bloomberg.com.
  16. "EX-99.1". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
  17. "ADP Buying Cobalt Group for $400 Million". PE Hub. 2010-07-12. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
  18. "ADP Reveals Post-Spin Name of Dealer Services Business". Auto Remarketing. 2014-08-19. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
  19. "ADP Dealer Services under new name - CDK Global". www.am-online.com.
  20. Luck, Patrick (December 2005). "AutoSuccess' Innovative Companies of the Year" (PDF). AutoSuccess. Systems Marketing, Inc. pp. 8–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-11-30. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  21. Banks, Cliff (2006-03-17). "ADP Acquires BZ Results". Ward's . Archived from the original on 2022-07-27. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  22. Finlay, Steve (2017-05-24). "Automotive Info Tech Giant CDK to Acquire Auto/Mate". Ward's . Archived from the original on 2024-06-27. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
  23. "FTC Blocks CDK Global's Acquisition of Auto/Mate". F&I and Showroom. 2018-03-20. Archived from the original on 2023-03-29. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
  24. "FTC Challenges CDK Global, Inc.'s Proposed Acquisition of Competitor Auto/Mate, Inc". Federal Trade Commission. 2018-03-20. Archived from the original on 2023-09-22. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
  25. "CDK Global completes $1.45 billion sale of international unit". Crain's Chicago Business. March 1, 2021.
  26. "CDK Global to Sell International Business to Francisco Partners for $1.45 Billion". finance.yahoo.com. 30 November 2020.
  27. Balu, Nivedita; Mathews, Eva (April 7, 2022). "Brookfield to buy automotive software maker CDK Global for $6.41 bln". Reuters .
  28. "CDK Global to Be Acquired by Brookfield for $54.87 Per Share in Cash". www.businesswire.com. 2022-04-07. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  29. "CDK Completes $8.3 Billion Sale to Brookfield". www.paulweiss.com/. 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
  30. "CDK Global completes sale to Brookfield—what does this mean for dealer partners?". www.cbtnews.com/. 2022-07-22. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
  31. Lutz, Hannah (2017-05-02). "Reynolds, CDK hit by another antitrust lawsuit". Automotive News . Archived from the original on 2022-08-14. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
  32. 1 2 Gnau, Thomas (2017-07-18). "Federal judge rules against Reynolds and Reynolds". Dayton Daily News . Archived from the original on 2022-11-29. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
  33. Kamal, Tariq (2017-07-18). "Authenticom Granted Preliminary Injunction in CDK, Reynolds Lawsuit". F&I and Showroom. Archived from the original on 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
  34. VanHulle, Lindsay (2020-11-09). "CDK settles antitrust lawsuit over data access". Automotive News . Archived from the original on 2020-11-09. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
  35. Robledo, Anthony; Schulz, Bailey; Lin-Fisher, Betty. "Auto dealer system updates to take 'several days' following CDK hack, ransom demand". USA Today. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  36. Visconti, Zachary (2024-06-24). "Dealership system hackers seemingly identified as restorations begin". TESLARATI. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
  37. "CDK Global begins to restore systems after cyber hack hits thousands of retailers". Reuters. June 23, 2024. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  38. "CDK Global says outages to continue through June 30 after supplier hack". Yahoo News. 2024-06-25. Retrieved 2024-06-26.
  39. Maruf, Ramishah (2024-07-02). "CDK Global says 'substantially all' dealers back online after crippling hack | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved 2024-07-04.
  40. "Software company plans to pay tens of millions in ransom to hackers who crippled car dealerships across North America". Fortune. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
  41. "Car Sellers Warn Investors of Possible Financial Hit From Cyberattack". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
  42. Lareau, Jamie (June 27, 2024). "June new vehicle sales expected to take hit from cyberattack on dealer software". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
  43. "CDK Global faces multiple lawsuits from dealerships crippled by cyberattack". CBS News. 2024-07-03. Retrieved 2024-07-04.