Autobytel Japan Plans Stock Offering
Autobytel Japan K.K., an online car-buying service affiliated with Irvine-based Autobytel.com Inc., will sell shares of stock next year to raise its image and expand operations, a company official said Wednesdsay.
Autobytel Japan, which started its e-commerce site in Japan in November, has “sufficient funds for the time being,” Autobytel Japan Executive Vice President Yoshikuni Kato said in an interview.
The Tokyo company will sell shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Market of High-Growth and Emerging Stocks, known as Mothers, Kato said. He declined to say how large the offering will be, how much money the company hoped to raise or which banks might underwrite it.
Like the Web site run by rival CarPoint K.K., an affiliate of Microsoft Corp., visitors using Autobytel Japan’s service are asked about the types of cars they’re interested in, shown a variety of models matching their responses and directed to dealers nearest to them.
People wishing to sell cars are asked for details of the mileage, age and asking price of their vehicle, then directed to the most appropriate dealer in their area.
What distinguishes Autobytel Japan is “working closely” with dealerships and helping them sell cars after putting them in touch with visitors to its Internet site, Kato said.
The site had about 20 million hits in November and December, Kato said. The company’s main source of revenue is commissions from dealers for passing along customer requests made at the Autobytel site, although Kato didn’t provide details of its revenue.
Autobytel.com Inc. owns 33.3%; with 16.6% held by Intec Inc.; 13.4% each by Itochu Corp., Trans Cosmos Inc. and Recruit Co.; and 5.4% by Orient Corp.
Online competition has surged in the U.S. in the past two years as services such as Autoweb.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp.’s MSN CarPoint pass customer queries to dealerships, while closely held CarsDirect.com and Greenlight.com let customers buy a car without visiting a dealership. All display invoice prices for cars, while some such as CarsDirect offer to sell cars below invoice.
Last week a CarPoint K.K. official said in an interview that the company will sell shares this year to fund expansion and hopes to be profitable in three to four years. CarPoint launched its Japanese e-commerce site in November.
On Wednesday, CarPoint also said it plans to expand into Europe in a challenge to Autobytel.com, which has sites in the United Kingdom and Sweden and plans to expand this year to France, Germany, Scandinavia and elsewhere.
Autobytel.com’s stock closed Wednesday at $10.38, up 13 cents.
