 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| NYSE: CZOO | |
| Industry | |
| Founded | 2018 |
| Founders | Alex Chesterman |
| Headquarters | , United Kingdom |
Key people | |
Number of employees | 1,000 |
| Website | cazoo |
Cazoo was a British online car retailer based in London, England. Founded in 2018 by Alex Chesterman, the company went into administration in May 2024.
Cazoo was founded in 2018 by British internet entrepreneur Alex Chesterman. It launched an online marketplace for used cars in December 2019, which became its primary business. [1]
It is based in the UK but listed on the New York Stock Exchange following a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, led by hedge fund manager Dan Och in August 2021. As of its listing the company had a valuation of US$8 billion. It subsequently lost over 97% of its market value, causing Alex Chesterman to step down as CEO in January 2023. [2]
In 2021 Cazoo had expanded internationally, launching used car marketplaces in Germany and France, and in early 2022 expanded briefly into Italy and Spain. [3] After announcing redundancies in the UK in June 2022, in September 2022, Cazoo announced it would abandon its business in the European Union, closing its operations in France, Germany, Italy and Spain and making all 750 of its EU employees redundant, leaving only its UK operation in business. [4]
UK redundancies were announced in March 2023 when 15 out of 22 showrooms were closed. [5] A year later, in March 2024, the company stopped buying and selling cars and closed its remaining showrooms, aiming to become purely an online market place; the move meant 728 redundancies. On 21 May 2024, Cazoo went into administration putting 208 remaining jobs at risk of redundancy. [6] Cazoo's wholesale business was bought by G3; Constellation Automotive Group also acquired some Cazoo assets; and used-car platform Motors.co.uk was reported in June 2024 to be buying Cazoo's brand and marketplace business. [7]
Motors has purchased the Cazoo brand [8] , aiming to transform it into a mobile-first digital marketplace for used cars. The undisclosed acquisition confirms earlier reports that Motors was closing in on a deal for the collapsed used car operator. Over the coming weeks, Motors will launch a new Cazoo app and a fresh website featuring more than a quarter of a million used car listings. The goal is to provide consumers with a fresh approach to searching for cars, leveraging Motors’ 15-plus years of experience. Dealers with live Motors MultiSite packages will automatically benefit from exposure on Cazoo, free of charge.
Cazoo sponsored the Welsh Rugby Union, [9] a number of annual horse races in Epsom and Doncaster, [10] cricket tournament The Hundred, [11] various events managed by the World Snooker Tour, [12] and the PGA European Tour. [13] Consequent on the company's announced retrenchment to the UK market in September 2022, Cazoo's sponsorships of European football clubs for the 2022–23 season, including Aston Villa, Olympique de Marseille, SC Freiburg, Valencia CF, Lille OSC, Bologna FC and Real Sociedad were being wound down. [14]
MG Rover Group was a British carmaker that existed between 2000 and 2005. It was the last domestically owned mass-production car manufacturer in the British motor industry. The company was formed when BMW sold the car-making and engine manufacturing assets of the original Rover Group to Phoenix Venture Holdings in 2000.
Auto Trader Group plc, commonly known as Auto Trader, is a British automotive online marketplace and classified advertising business. It enables the buying and selling of new and used vehicles by private sellers and trade retailers. Auto Trader is listed on the London Stock Exchange trading under the ticker symbol AUTO, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Unipart Group is a British multinational logistics, supply chain, manufacturing and consultancy company headquartered in Cowley, Oxfordshire, England. It has operations in Europe, North America, Australia and Japan and works across a variety of sectors that include automotive, retail, technology and rail. It is one of the largest privately-owned companies in the UK; being 70% owned by its workforce and pension fund while the other 30% is held by sympathetic institutions.
IG Group Holdings plc, trading as IG Group, is a United Kingdom-based online trading provider, offering access to spread betting and CFD trading, which allow traders to bet on the direction of equities, bonds and currencies without owning the underlying assets.
Constellation Automotive Group is a used vehicle marketplace. It was founded in the United Kingdom in 1946, as Southern Counties Car Auctions, and was a publicly traded company, BCA Marketplace, when acquired and taken private by TDR Capital in November 2019. TDR rebranded it to the current name in October 2020.
MG Motor is an automotive brand owned by the Shanghai-based, state-owned carmaker SAIC Motor. It is a continuation of the original MG marque, a British brand that was established in Oxford, UK in 1924. SAIC Motor gained control of the brand in December 2007 by acquiring Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC), a smaller Chinese company that first acquired the brand from the defunct MG Rover Group in 2005. Currently, MG is a division within SAIC's passenger vehicle branch.
Travelex International Limited is a foreign exchange company founded by Lloyd Dorfman and headquartered in Peterborough. Its main businesses are foreign currency exchange, issuing prepaid credit cards for use by travellers, supplying central banks with foreign currency and global remittance. Travelex operates more than 1,100 stores and 900 ATMs in over 20 countries.
H.R. Owen is a luxury motor retailer in Britain, and one of the world's largest retailers in Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Maserati, Lamborghini and Bugatti brands. The company is headquartered in London, and operates 18 sales franchises and 17 aftersales franchises.
RCI Banque SA, trading as Mobilize Financial Services, is a France-based international company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Renault and part of Renault's Mobilize unit. RCI Banque specialises in automotive financing, insurance, and related activities for the Renault group brands globally for the Nissan group brands in Europe, Russia, Asia and South America; and for Mitsubishi Motors in the Netherlands.
Dafabet is an online betting site. The company was founded on 7 November 2004 and is headquartered in Makati, Philippines.
Stoneacre Motor Group is a car dealership group based in the United Kingdom, having been established in December 1994.
Carwow is an online marketplace for buying and selling cars. It uses the reverse marketplace model to remove the need for customers to negotiate with dealers when buying or selling their cars. When buying a new car, users choose the car they want, along with the various specifications and features, and then receive offers directly from dealers. When selling a car, users upload some basic details about their car, after which different car dealers are invited to bid to buy the car directly from them. It also provides information to prospective purchasers and gives feedback on rogue dealers. The company has a YouTube page, run by motor journalist and Carwow's Chief Content Officer Mat Watson, where different cars are reviewed.
Tile Mountain is a company based in Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom that retails tiles commonly used in home decor. The company is notable for creating a multitude of jobs in Stoke-on-Trent following the sale of Longton-based Tile Giant for £12 million in 2007. Tile Mountain's business model includes online sales and providing product samples before large orders. Its products are local as well as from various parts of the globe. Tile Mountain currently has stock including tools, trims, Mapei adhesives and underfloor heating, ceramic and natural stone tiles.
Alexander Edward Chesterman is a British Internet entrepreneur, co-founder of ScreenSelect, which later became part of online film distributor LoveFilm, and is the founder and former CEO of online used car platform Cazoo.
OLX Group is a Dutch-domiciled online market place headquartered in Amsterdam. The OLX consumer brand originated as OnLine eXchange in 2006. OLX Group is owned by Prosus, the international assets division of Naspers.
Motorsport Network is an American media and technology company headquartered in Miami, Florida and London, UK. The company's proprietary brands, websites and OTT operations focus on motor racing and consumer automotive content serving and presenting content to audiences worldwide. The privately held business was founded in 2015 with the acquisition of Motorsport.com and now operates international digital, videogame, print, e-commerce & event businesses.
The Tour Championship is a professional snooker tournament first held in 2019. The event features the twelve highest ranked players on the one-year ranking list, which reflects prize money won at ranking events since the beginning of the season. The Tour Championship is the third and final tournament in the Players Series, following the World Grand Prix and the Players Championship. The event features a prize fund of £380,000, with the winner receiving £150,000. The tournament is broadcast by ITV Sport in the United Kingdom and Eurosport across the rest of Europe. The reigning champion is Mark Williams, who won the 2024 Tour Championship with a 10–5 win over Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final.
Drover was a London-based company providing vehicle subscriptions.
Motorway is an online-only used car marketplace based in the UK. It uses a selling platform to allow users to sell their car to dealers. Motorway is based in London and Brighton in the UK.
The Players Series is a bonus competition for players who have earned the most money in a series of professional snooker tournaments. The series involves three events: the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship. It was established in 2019.