Yesterday I sent out a tweet and post on facebook mentioning the announcement of an acquisition
within our industry today 10/2/2012.
[tweet https://twitter.com/dealerrefresh/statuses/252898008637784064]
As you can see in the tweet, I included some engagement around the news by offering a Free DealerRefresh t-shirt to the first person that knew the answer.
DealerRefresher – Mr. Aaron Holland provided the correct answer over on the DealerRefresh facebook page. Congratulations Aaron, before you know it, you’ll be style’n around in new 100% cotton DealerRefresh T-Shirt. 🙂
The smoke had barely settled from the DealerTrack acquisition of eCarlist a little over a year ago and now DealerTrack ponies up to buy yet another dealership website service and long time DealerRefresh advertiser, ClickMotive.
I believe a Congratulations is on order to Stuart Lloyd and the ClickMotive team!? Another PayDay for Mr. Lloyd.
Questions:
How is ClickMotive a good fit for DealerTrack?
Will ClickMotive and eCarList eventually change its name?
Will ClickMotive customers be forced to switch to eCarList or vice versa?
Current ClickMotive customers – How do you feel about this acquisition?
Full Press-Release after the jump
DealerTrack Announces the Acquisition of ClickMotive Acquisition Strengthens DealerTrack’s Digital Interactive Marketing Offerings for Automotive Retailers
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Oct. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — DealerTrack (Nasdaq: TRAK) today announced the acquisition of ClickMotive LP, a leading provider of interactive marketing solutions for the automotive retailing industry. Total consideration for the transaction is expected to be $48.9 million in cash, subject to a standard purchase price adjustment and net of certain expenses. Additionally, the sellers will be eligible to receive additional consideration of up to $7.65 million, payable in 2014, if ClickMotive achieves certain performance targets in 2013.
ClickMotive, which was established in 2005 and based in Plano, Texas, is the innovator of an award-winning digital marketing platform that combines the power of Web, mobile, search, social, video, inventory, call-tracking, tag, and dashboard tools to generate qualified leads and increase sales for automotive groups and individual franchised dealers. Currently, more than 3,000 U.S. automotive dealerships leverage ClickMotive’s platform.
“With this acquisition, we are able to significantly expand the website and interactive marketing capability we acquired with eCarList,” said Mark O’Neil, chairman, and chief executive officer, DealerTrack. “Additionally, we believe this acquisition will enhance the competitive positioning of our inventory solution and expand our relationship with a number of key OEMs.” “From helping dealers acquire customers to managing those customers throughout the entire purchase and delivery process, DealerTrack continues to be an integral part of managing a dealership’s overall workflow,” added O’Neil.
“We are looking forward to joining the DealerTrack family,” said Stuart Lloyd, chief executive officer and co-founder of ClickMotive. “This acquisition will allow us to reach more and more dealerships, enabling them to create their own unique digital voice that can be heard across multiple Internet, mobile, and social platforms.” Details on the financial impact of this transaction are expected to be discussed on DealerTrack’s third quarter earnings conference call in November.
About DealerTrack
DealerTrack’s intuitive and high-value web-based software solutions and services enhance efficiency and profitability for all major segments of the automotive retail industry, including dealers, lenders, OEMs, third-party retailers, agents, and aftermarket providers. DealerTrack, whose solution set for dealers is the industry’s most comprehensive, operates the largest online credit application network in the United States, connecting over 18,000 dealers with more than 1,200 lenders. DealerTrack’s Dealer Management System (DMS) provides dealers with easy-to-use tools and real-time data access to enhance their efficiency. DealerTrack’s Inventory offerings provide vehicle inventory management, transportation, and merchandising solutions to help dealers drive higher in-store and online traffic with state-of-the-art, real-time listings, accelerate used-vehicle turn rates, and increase dealer profits. DealerTrack’s Sales and F&I solutions allow dealers to streamline the entire sales process as they structure deals from a single integrated platform. Its Compliance offering helps dealers meet legal and regulatory requirements, and protect their assets.
Congrats to Stuart Lloyd and Tim Clay, both of whom are first class people that I have a lot of respect for. The entire Clickmotive team has done a great job, and I wish the best to both DealerTrack and Clickmotive.
Thanks Kevin. We are all very excited about this new opportunity.
I’m not surprised by this strategic move by DealerTrack. Here is my complete comments on the topic: http://bit.ly/ClickMotive-DealerTrack
Thanks for sharing the article, as a DealerTrack employee of nearly 7 years I thought I would give you some insight from an internal employee and my thoughts.
How is ClickMotive a good fit for DealerTrack?
DealerTrack owns 3 Inventory Management tools, InventoryPro, AAX, and ECarList. Click Motive was an acquisition that will allow DealerTrack to significantly expand the website and interactive marketing capability we acquired with eCarList, It will help our clients with social platforms and gfiving them a larger presence on the web. If anything, our project managers will have a lot of work on their hands trying to integrate all products in one.
Will ClickMotive and eCarList eventually change its name?
We have changed names in the past, but I think what you will see in this acquisition is all the tools integrated in one, and eventually I am sure we will have a new product name, but I don’t see that until years to come.
Will ClickMotive customers be forced to switch to eCarList or vice versa?
DealerTrack has never forced users to move from one product to another unless we are phasing the product out and we convince them to move to another product, we still will not force anyone to stop using a product. We still have clients on InventoryPro from 2006.
Very nice post.
Hey, I too have send the right answer, but a bit late! I get to know about the acquisition of ClickMotive by DealerTrack from a hacker news. I think the winner night have got the news from there itself !