Background
The founder of Auto Trader in the United Kingdom was John Madejski in 1975, who went on to take over Reading Football Club in 1991. The 'Auto Trader Concept' was founded in America. John Madejski brought this idea back from the USA, and set up Hurst Publishing with Paul Gibbons in 1977.
The first Auto Trader to be established was Hurst's Thames Valley Trader in 1977. This was followed by the publication of a second title, Southern Auto Trader, which launched in 1981. Guardian Media Group approached Hurst, with intentions of launching similar titles in the North of England, rather than competing head to head. Gradually, a group of classified advertising titles evolved that were either wholly owned by Hurst or by Guardian Media Group, or jointly owned by the two organisations. In July 1998, the two partners in Hurst sold part of their business to the specialist European venture capitalists BC Partners, who approached Guardian Media Group and proposed a merger to form a new company. Trader Media Group was launched in May 2000.
Read more about this topic: Auto Trader (UK)
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