Cars & Bids Gets $37m Investment from The Chernin Group

Doug DeMuro is no stranger to big numbers — he’s had a lot of success in the YouTube realm since the beginning of his video efforts back in 2013. His channel has over 4.5 million subscribers now, all of which tune in to hear him talk about the quirks and performance of different classic and collector cars.

In 2020, DeMuro founded the Cars & Bids auction site with Blake Machado. The site focuses in on collector cars from a new generation — only those built from the 1980s through the 2000s — and to date has sold over $200m worth of them to over 305,000 registered members. 

Now, as reported by Forbes, Cars & Bids has been given a shot in the arm via a $37m investment from The Chernin Group. As part of this investment, the Group has bought a majority stake in the business — and DeMuro’s YouTube channel will be merged with the Cars & Bids site to create a single point of content, all of which led by experienced CEO Ro Choy.

“Cars and Bids provides a great digital auction experience for automotive enthusiasts, and we auction some of the coolest cars in the world – and the investment from TCG ensures it’s only going to get better,” DeMuro said in a statement. “I’m also thrilled to combine my YouTube channel and Cars and Bids into one entity, creating one great place for enthusiasts to buy, sell, and learn about cars.”

This investment comes as the auction world is booming. Mecum has just reported another record year of sales out of Kissimmee, and the Arizona auctions, at least as of this writing, are still compiling numbers from what appeared to be record-breaking sales — particularly at Barrett-Jackson. In addition, Bring a Trailer, Cars & Bids’ closest competitor in the auction space — reported a record $1.3B in sales for calendar year 2022. Bring a Trailer also saw recent investment in the form of acquisition by Hearst Autos in 2020. Similarly, in the land auction world, newcomer Broad Arrow Auctions was acquired by Hagerty shortly after the new company’s formation. It now hosts annual auctions in both Amelia Island, FL as well as Monterey, CA.

The Chernin Group is also no stranger to the auction world. In 2021, they invested $40m in collectible and trading card auction company Goldin Auctions. Similarly, founder Ken Goldin remained with the company in a key leadership role to help ensure the growth of the business into the future.

As for Cars & Bids, it’s safe to say that increased growth is the goal here — and they’re in a good position to make that a reality.

Learn more at www.carsandbids.com.