Cars.com Spin-Off Approved by Board of Directors

TEGNA’s board of directors has approved the spin-off of Cars.com as a separate publicly traded company, the company has announced.

First announced in September of last year, Cars.com's separation from TEGNA as its own publicly traded company will be completed on May 31. Shares of the new company will begin regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) the next day.

Prior to the company's seperation, however, all outstanding shares of Cars.com will be distributed to TEGNA stockholders of record at the close of business on May 18 at a rate of one share of Cars.com for every three shares of TEGNA a stockholder holds.

“We are approaching a watershed moment for Cars.com and I couldn’t be more excited about our future. As an independent company, we have greater flexibility to capture the opportunities ahead of us by leveraging our strong brand, innovative platform and expanding, loyal audience,” said Alex Vetter, who will serve as president and CEO of Cars.com upon separation. “We are a pure-play digital company in an excellent position to drive long-term growth and profitability, and we are a unique investment opportunity in the digital automotive space.”

In order to maintain TEGNA’s current credit rating, Cars.com will also present TEGNA with a one-time cash distribution of $650 million upon separation. TEGNA will continue to trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol TGNA and Cars.com will trade under the symbol CARS.

Cars.com will remain headquartered in Chicago once the spin-off is completed. The company stated at as an independent company, it focus on its key strategic priorities, which include innovation and active evaluation and pursuit of acquisitions.

Scott Forbes will act as chairman of the Cars.com board of directors. Other members will include Alex Vetter, Cars.com president and CEO, current TEGNA director Jill Greenthal, Thomas Hale, Donald McGovern, and Greg Revelle.