Friday 8th August 2003

Autotrader Sold

£600m to seal deal

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[CarZee]

Probably good news in some respects but it means Mrs Zee now works for the Grauniad

[sagalout]

Now which magasine do you see the likes of "Autotrader for Sale", one careful owner, full MoT & Tax etc advertised

[FourWheelDrift]

sagalout said:

Now which magasine do you see the likes of "Autotrader for Sale", one careful owner, full MoT & Tax etc advertised

Probably sold with a photo of Auto Express above it

[jonnyhilfiger]

Wow, that's one big company.

Not surprised its worth so much though when they charge so much - anyone else notice they put their price up by 50% to advertise on-line for 2 weeks. Was £9.95 now £15. Disgraceful. Wonder if they did the same to traders - bet that would *iss them off.

[MajorClanger]

Probably needed to pay for all the golf clubs in Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Kent and East Sussex the previous owner was aquiring! Love of golf over cars? Mmmm £55 million could buy a lot of cars!

Page 3

i.e Dale Hill and Chart Hills as well as the Oxfordshire and Sandford Springs.

MC

[RichB]

He also owns Reading Football Club. R...

[nonegreen]

How do they reconcile their ethical position then? They promote general vegetablist propaganda while allowing the odd petrolhead token journalistic opposition, then buy the Autotrader which must flog half the cars in the UK. They should be carefull they'll lose that "Business in the community" badge.

[jonnyhilfiger]

They already owned 48% anyway - they have bought the remaining 52% to own it outright. They also partner with other media groups to make up fish4 - bit of a monolopy starting methinks.