Kelly Blue Book for sale
The Financial Times reports that privately owned Kelly Blue Book is for sale and that KBB has hired a bank to handle the sale. The company has been providing car buyers and sellers with vehicle pricing information since 1926, and plays a significant role in the marketing of new and used vehicles in the U.S.
The Financial Times says the asking price for the company is expected to be in the neighborhood of $500 million to $1 billion and that Cox Communications, which owns AutoTrader, is likely to be the lead bidder, with both eBay and Google likely to be bidding as well. The KBB.com website has experienced a decline in traffic from nine million visits per month to about seven million over the past three years and its print publications have declined dramatically. KBB is family owned, though no members of the Kelly family currently work in executive management at the company.
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