06 March 2024

Cazoo will cease to be a used car retailer, de-list from the New York Stock Exchange and attempt to become a rival to Auto Trader, Carwow and Motors.

In a stock market statement today, 6 March, Cazoo said: “The Cazoo board has reviewed the strategic options for the company and believe that a pivot to a pure-play marketplace business model is the best direction for Cazoo and all its stakeholders.”

The company added it believed it could bring “fresh opportunities” to used car retailers with a platform that would allow buyers to “complete their transactions fully online”.

The statement said Cazoo would begin to unwind its inventory through retail and wholesale channels immediately.

Cazoo also hinted it would also launch a rival to We Buy Any Car and other consumer-facing car buying services, and said: “Based on this and its other proprietary pricing data, Cazoo is well-positioned to offer car dealers valuable customer and market analytical insights to support their sales and marketing activities and to help them source new stock in the UK’s currently stock-constrained used car market.”

Cazoo added: “As previously disclosed, in connection with the company’s debt/equity exchange in December 2023 the company committed that it would remain listed on the New York Stock Exchange until at least March 20, 2024, but would have no obligation to remain listed or registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission after that date. The company’s board has been evaluating the company’s liquidity and cost structure, including the costs of being a publicly reporting company, and whether the benefits of being a publicly reporting and listed company outweigh the costs. As part of its efforts to conserve cash, the company has notified the parties to its registration rights agreement that the company may delist from the NYSE and deregister its securities in accordance with applicable SEC regulations.”

At the time of writing, Cazoo had a market cap of £16 million. When Cazoo what floated on the NYSE in August 2021 it was valued at more than £6 billion.

Tags: Cazoo