The history of Auto Trader reads like the logbook for one of the classic cars for sale on its website. Founded as a magazine title in 1975 by the entrepreneur John Madejski, it has become an online-only business as buying and selling motors has moved into the digital age.
Through the years its owner-drivers have included the Guardian Media Group and Apax, the private equity investor. Floated on the stock market in 2015, it has a list price of about £4.2 billion, sufficiently high to have propelled it into the FTSE 100 at the most recent quarterly reshuffle.
The group’s business model is straightforward. Roughly 85 per cent of its revenues come from the trade, effectively forecourt retailers and other businesses listing mainly second-hand but