Cars.com Inc. - Annual Report: 2019 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019

OR

Commission File Number 001-37869

Cars.com Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its Charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (312) 601-5000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes  ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

At June 30, 2019, the last business day of the Registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of common stock held by non-affiliates was $1,314,771,840 based on the closing sale price of common stock on such date of $19.72 per share on the New York Stock Exchange.

The number of shares of Registrant’s Common Stock outstanding as of February 19, 2020 was 66,810,957.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Registrant’s Definitive Proxy Statement relating to the Annual Meeting of Stockholders, scheduled to be held on May 14, 2020, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Report.

 Table of Contents

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PART I

Note About Forward-Looking Statements. This report contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include information concerning our business strategies, strategic alternatives review process, plans and objectives, market potential, outlook, trends, future financial performance, planned operational and product improvements, potential strategic transactions, liquidity and other matters and involve known and unknown risks that are difficult to predict.  As a result, our actual financial results, performance, achievements, strategic actions or prospects may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.  These statements often include words such as “believe,” “expect,” “project,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “strategy,” “plan,” “estimate,” “target,” “seek,” “will,” “may,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “forecasts,” “mission,” “strive,” “more,” “goal” or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, beliefs, strategies, estimates, projections and assumptions, based on our experience in the industry as well as our perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors we think are appropriate. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company and its management based on their knowledge and understanding of the business and industry, are inherently uncertain.  You should understand that these statements are not guarantees of strategic action, performance or results. Our actual results could differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Given these uncertainties, forward-looking statements should not be relied on in making investment decisions. Comparisons of results between current and prior periods are not intended to express any future trends, or indications of future performance, unless expressed as such, and should only be viewed as historical data. Whether or not any such forward-looking statement is in fact achieved will depend on future events, some of which are beyond our control.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors, many of which are beyond our control, that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements contained in this report. For a detailed discussion of many of these risks and uncertainties, see “Part I, Item 1A., Risk Factors” and “Part II, Item 7., Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of this report.  All forward-looking statements contained in this report are qualified by these cautionary statements. You should evaluate all forward-looking statements made in this report in the context of these risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this report are based only on information currently available to us and speak only as of the date of this report. We undertake no obligation, other than as may be required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking or cautionary statements to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of events, unanticipated or otherwise, or changes in future operating results over time or otherwise.  The forward-looking statements in this report are intended to be subject to the safe harbor protection provided by the federal securities laws.

Item 1. Business. Cars.com Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries are referred to here as “CARS,” the “Company,” “our,” “us” or “we,” unless the context indicates otherwise. CARS conducts all of its operations through its wholly owned subsidiaries.

Overview. We are a leading digital marketplace and solutions provider for the automotive industry that connects car shoppers with sellers and original equipment manufacturers (“OEM”s). Our marketplace empowers shoppers with the resources and information to make confident car buying decisions, while our digital solutions and technology platform helps sellers improve operational efficiency, profitability and sales. Our portfolio of brands includes Cars.com, Dealer Inspire and DealerRater, in addition to Auto.com, NewCars.com and PickupTrucks.com.

Marketplace. The CARS marketplace consists of a fully-responsive website that is accessible on a user’s device of choice as well as the No. 1 downloaded and rated mobile application in our category. It features a database of 4.5 million new and used vehicle listings, more than eight million consumer and expert reviews, a significant news and research section, consisting of original editorial content from a team of automotive experts, and several pricing, comparison and research tools to help guide shoppers on their path to purchase. Recently launched shopper solutions include:

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Digital Solutions & Technology Platform. As we expand beyond an inventory listings provider to a full-service digital solutions provider, bolstered by our acquisitions of Dealer Inspire and DealerRater, our offerings and value proposition for both shoppers and sellers has strengthened. Dealer Inspire, acquired in 2018, is an automotive technology leader that provides market-leading websites, technology solutions and advertising services to dealers across the United States and Canada. DealerRater, acquired in 2016, is one of the nation’s leading sources of user-generated reviews of both automobile dealers and dealership salespeople. Through DealerRater, we help dealerships establish and manage their reputations. DealerRater’s six million reviews are syndicated across a variety of platforms (including Cars.com), reaching more than 40 million consumers, digitally, each month.  

Digital Advertising. We offer dealers and manufacturers a variety of digital advertising services and solutions, including our core inventory listings package, display advertising, social media advertising, video marketing, paid search and email marketing.

History. CARS was established in 1998 as part of a joint venture formed by a number of leading newspaper and broadcast companies that realized their historic classified advertising businesses were being eroded as advertising began to move to the Internet. In 2014, one of the joint ventures, Gannett Co., Inc. (“Gannett”) acquired the interests of the other joint venturers, and we became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gannett. On May 31, 2017, Gannett, which had changed its name to TEGNA Inc. (“TEGNA”), effected a spin-off of Cars.com along with the DealerRater business that it had acquired in 2016 (the “Spin”), creating Cars.com Inc. and distributing 100% of our common stock to TEGNA’s shareholders. On June 1, 2017, our common stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE” under the ticker symbol “CARS”). In February 2018, we acquired the stock of privately held Dealer Inspire Inc. and, substantially all the assets of Launch Digital Marketing LLC, which provided the digital marketing services now offered by Dealer Inspire.  

Industry Dynamics. CARS operates in the large and growing automotive advertising and technology solutions market. According to the Borrell Associates’ 2018 Automotive Outlook report, approximately 67% of the $34 billion U.S. auto advertising industry is spent on digital marketing. Over the next five years, advertising for the automotive industry is expected to grow to approximately $37 billion, with digital advertising expected to reach 74% of the overall market spend over the same period. Furthermore, dealers spend three times more on solutions than marketing, according to the same report.

Automotive dealers are facing increasing market pressures to become more competitive in attracting car buyers. Margins are compressing while consumer expectations are growing. Dealers are investing more on technology solutions and their first-party platforms (their own websites). CARS is the only combined marketplace and solutions provider in the market today. Moving beyond a pure marketplace model to a comprehensive, multi-faceted sales-oriented suite of tools and solutions, with one of the biggest online marketplaces as its crown jewel, allows for unique product offerings that cannot be found or emulated by any competitor. 

For shoppers, buying a car is one of life’s most significant and researched decisions. According to a 2018 Mintel study, two out of three car shoppers believe buying a vehicle is stressful. Numerous product options with opaque, negotiable prices and gaps in the online-to-offline shopping experience add complexity to an already overwhelming decision-making process. Consumers want an improved shopping experience. Automotive marketplaces help car shoppers research and facilitate their car purchase. According to the 2018 Car Buyer Journey study conducted by IHS Markit, nearly 80% of car shoppers utilize third-party sites such as Cars.com and spend more than 60% of their research time on these sites.

We see an opportunity to continue to address pain-points for both car shoppers and sellers. CARS makes shopping easier by providing the tools and information needed to better prepare consumers for the visit to the dealership lot, and we deliver solutions that drive efficiency, profitability and improved sales for sellers.

Our Business

Customers. Our core customers are car dealerships and automotive manufacturers. 84.3% of our revenue is generated from car dealerships, while 13.3% comes from manufacturers and national advertisers and 2.4% is generated from customers within peer industries.  

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Shoppers. Attracting ready-to-buy car shoppers to our marketplace is crucial to meeting the needs of our automotive customers. We believe we are the category leaders in organic traffic and the vast majority of our traffic is organic. Eight out of ten consumers who visit Cars.com intend to purchase a vehicle, and we believe we have some of the category’s strongest site engagement.  

Solutions. We generate revenue primarily through the sale of online subscription advertising products to car dealer customers, which enable dealers access to our high-quality, in-market audience of car shoppers through their vehicle inventory listing. The growth of our solutions business has become a core focus for us. Some of our core digital solutions and technology products for customers include:

Key Differentiators. Our strategy is to drive efficiencies in the automotive industry by uniting media, solutions and data. We believe that our business has many competitive advantages, including:

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Intellectual Property. We protect our intellectual property and our brand using various intellectual property laws and through a combination of trademarks, trade dress, domain names, copyrights, trade secrets and patents, as well as contractual provisions and confidentiality procedures. We have registered and unregistered U.S. and international trademarks, service marks, domain names and copyrights. We have filed patent applications and acquired patents in the U.S. and foreign countries covering certain of our proprietary technology and intend to pursue additional patent protection to the extent we believe it will be beneficial and cost-effective.

In addition to the protection provided by our intellectual property rights, we enter into confidentiality and proprietary rights agreements with our employees, consultants, contractors and business partners. Our employees and contractors are also subject to invention assignment provisions. In addition, we control the use of our proprietary technology and intellectual property through provisions in both our general and product-specific terms of use on our mobile applications and websites.

Regulatory Matters. Various aspects of our business and the solutions we offer are or may be subject to a continually expanding and evolving range of local, state, federal and international regulation.

In particular, the advertising and sale of new or used vehicles is highly regulated by the states in which we do business. Although we do not sell motor vehicles, the dealers from which we derive a significant portion of our revenue do sell them. Moreover, state regulatory authorities or other third parties could take and, on some occasions, have taken the position that some of the regulations applicable to dealers or to the manner in which motor vehicles are advertised and sold generally are directly applicable to our business model.

By providing a medium through which users can post content and communicate with one another using text messages and other mobile phone communications, our business is subject to laws, regulations, and standards covering marketing and advertising activities conducted by telephone, email, mobile devices, and the internet, such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the CAN-SPAM Act, and similar state consumer protection laws.

Our digital solutions products may be subject to laws governing accessibility, intellectual property ownership, obscenity, libel, and privacy, among other issues.

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In addition, we are subject to numerous federal, national, state, and local laws and regulations in the United States and internationally regarding privacy and the collection, processing, storage, sharing, disclosure, use, and protection of personal information and other data, such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act or the California Consumer Privacy Act. While the scope of these laws and regulations is changing and remains subject to differing interpretations, we seek to comply with industry standards and all applicable laws, policies, legal obligations, and industry codes of conduct relating to privacy and data protection. We are also subject to the terms of our privacy policies and privacy-related obligations to third parties.  

To operate in this highly regulated environment, we have developed our products and services with a view toward appropriately managing the risk that our regulatory compliance or the regulatory compliance of our dealer customers could be challenged. If, and to the extent that, our products and services fail to satisfy relevant regulatory requirements, we could be subject to significant civil and criminal penalties, including fines, or the award of significant damages in class action or other civil litigation, as well as orders interfering with our ability to continue providing our products and services in certain states.

Employees. As of December 31, 2019, we had approximately 1,500 full-time employees. We also engage contractors to support our operations. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or subject to a collective bargaining agreement. We have not experienced any work stoppages, and we consider our relations with our employees to be good.

Available Information. We file periodic reports (Forms 10-Q and 10-K) and current reports (Form 8-K) and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Our filings with the SEC are available to the public on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Our filings are also available to the public on, or accessible through, our corporate website for free via the “Investor Relations” section at http://investor.cars.com as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed electronically with the SEC. The information we file with the SEC or contained on, or accessible through, our corporate website or any other website that we may maintain is not incorporated by reference herein and is not part of this report. We may from time to time provide important disclosures to investors by posting them in the investor relations section of our website, as allowed by SEC rules.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

The following risk factors should be considered carefully, together with all of the other information contained in this report, including “Selected Financial Data,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our financial statements and related notes, when evaluating our business and any forward-looking statements or other statements we or our representatives make from time to time. Any of the following risks could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and the actual outcome of matters as to which statements are made. The risks and uncertainties described in this report are not the only ones we face. Other risks or uncertainties, which are not currently known to us or that we believe are immaterial, also may adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

Risks Related to Our Business

Our business is subject to risks related to the larger automotive ecosystem, including consumer demand and other macroeconomic issues.

Decreases in consumer demand could adversely affect the market for automobile purchases and, as a result, reduce the number of consumers using our platform. Consumer purchases of new and used automobiles generally decline during recessionary periods and other periods in which disposable income is adversely affected. Purchases of new and used automobiles are typically discretionary for consumers and have been, and may continue to be, affected by negative trends in the economy, including increases in the cost of energy and gasoline, the availability and cost of credit, reductions in business and consumer confidence, stock market volatility, health or similar issues, such as pandemic or epidemic, and increased unemployment. In addition, the use of ride-sharing and the development of autonomous vehicles could erode the demand for new and used automobiles. A reduction in the number of automobiles purchased by consumers could adversely affect automobile dealers and car manufacturers and lead to a reduction in other spending by these constituents. Though our current customer bases, revenue sources and operations are substantially limited to the United States, our business may be negatively affected by challenges to the global automotive ecosystem and other macroeconomic issues.

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We participate in a highly competitive market, and pressure from existing and new competitors may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

We face significant competition from companies that provide listings, information, lead generation, websites and car-buying services designed to reach consumers and enable dealers to reach these consumers. Our competitors offer various products and services that compete with us, including:

We compete with many of the above-mentioned companies and other companies for a share of a car dealer’s overall marketing budget. To the extent that car dealers view alternative marketing and media strategies to be superior, we may not be able to maintain or grow the number of dealers in our network. In addition, new competitors may enter the online automotive retail industry with competing products and services.

Our competitors could significantly impede our ability to expand our network of dealers and to reach consumers. Our competitors may also develop and market new technologies that render our existing or future products and services less competitive, unmarketable or obsolete. In addition, if competitors develop products or services with similar or superior functionality to our solutions, we may need to decrease prices for our solutions to remain competitive. If we are unable to maintain our current pricing structure due to competitive pressures, our revenue may be reduced and our operating results may be negatively affected.

Some of our larger competitors may be better able to respond more quickly with new technologies and to undertake more extensive marketing or promotional campaigns. In addition, to the extent that any of our competitors have existing relationships with dealers or automobile manufacturers for marketing or data analytics solutions, those dealers and automobile manufacturers may be unwilling to partner or continue to partner with us.

In addition, if any of our competitors were to merge or partner with another of our competitors, the change in the competitive landscape could materially and adversely affect our ability to compete effectively. Our competitors may also establish or strengthen cooperative relationships with our current or future third-party data providers, technology partners, or other parties with whom we have relationships, thereby limiting our ability to develop, improve and promote our solutions. We may not be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors, and competitive pressures may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

If we fail to maintain or increase our base of subscribing dealers that purchase our solutions or to increase our revenue from subscribing dealers, our business, results of operations or financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

Our revenue model generally employs a base package subscription fee with the opportunity for dealer customers to purchase product enhancements or short-term premium services. The higher-priced product enhancements and short-term premium services offer more features than what is included in the standard packages. Our ability to increase revenue from currently subscribing dealers depends, in part, on the ability of our sales force to demonstrate the value and benefits of the additional features of our product enhancements and short-term premium services to our subscribing dealers and to persuade them to purchase the higher-priced enhancements and services. Subscribing dealers do not have long-term obligations to purchase or renew subscriptions or product enhancements and premium services. Consequently, if subscribing dealers do not renew their subscriptions or continue to purchase product enhancements and premium services, or if we experience significant attrition of subscribing dealers or are unable to attract new dealers in numbers greater than the number of subscribing dealers that we lose, our revenue will decrease and our business, results of operations or financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

We compete with other consumer automotive websites and mobile applications and other digital content providers for share of automotive-related digital advertising spending and may be unable to maintain or grow our base of advertising customers or increase our revenue from existing advertisers.

In addition to revenue from marketplace subscriptions, we generate significant revenue from third-party national advertising. In 2019, 2018 and 2017, 13%, 16% and 18%, respectively, of our revenue was generated by the sale of national advertising and the sale of leads to OEMs. Although the shift in advertising spending away from traditional advertising methods to digital advertising methods provides greater opportunity for us, competition to capture share of the total digital automotive advertising spend has increased and may continue to increase due to the attractive projected growth of digital automotive advertising spend and low barriers to entry in the online automotive classifieds and related digital automotive advertising markets.

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We may face significant challenges in convincing our advertising customers, including brand advertisers and OEMs, to expand their advertising on our sites and mobile applications in the face of growing competition, which could hurt our ability to grow our third-party advertising revenue. For example, there are a limited number of OEMs, most of which already advertise on our sites. To grow our advertising revenue from these OEMs, we may need to increase the portion of OEMs’ digital advertising budgets that we currently receive. If the rate of renewal for our advertising customers decreases, OEMs or other national advertisers reduce their marketing spend, we experience a significant decrease in advertising spending, the number of advertising impressions on our sites or mobile applications declines for any reason, we are unable to attract new advertisers in numbers greater than the number of advertisers we lose or we are not able to raise rates or to increase our share of advertising revenue from dealers and other advertisers, our revenue will decrease and our business, results of operations or financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

Market acceptance of and influence over certain of our products and services is concentrated in a limited number of automobile OEMs and dealership associations, and we may not be able to maintain or grow these relationships.

Although the automotive retail industry is fragmented, a relatively small number of OEMs, dealership associations, and their program administrators exert significant influence over the market acceptance of automotive products and services due to their concentrated purchasing activity, their endorsement or recommendation of specific products and services, their provision co-operative advertising money to dealers, and/or their ability to define technical standards and certifications or marketing guidelines. For example, many of our website solutions are provided pursuant to OEM-designated endorsement or preferred vendor programs. While automotive dealers are generally free to purchase the solutions of their choosing, when an OEM has endorsed or certified a provider of products or services to its associated franchised dealers and if our solutions lack such certification or endorsement, adoption or retention of our products and services among the franchised dealers of such OEM could be materially impaired.

We may face difficulties in transitioning from a marketplace platform to a full-service solutions provider that helps automotive brands and dealers create enduring customer relationships.

We continue to expand the nature and scope of our offerings to our customers and have expanded our service offerings to incorporate digital solutions that use social, mobile and web-based technologies. Our ability to effectively offer a wide breadth of end-to-end business solutions depends on our ability to attract existing or new clients to our new service offerings. The market for end-to-end solutions is highly competitive. We cannot be certain that our new service offerings will effectively meet client needs or that we will be able to attract clients to these service offerings. The inherent difficulty of developing or implementing new service offerings and significant competition in the markets for these end-to-end services may affect our ability to market these services successfully.

Our growth strategy will also increase demands on our management, operational and financial information systems and other resources. To accommodate our growth, we will need to continue to implement operational and financial information systems and controls, and expand, train, manage and motivate our employees. Our personnel, information systems, procedures or controls may not adequately support our growth strategy or our operations in the future. Failure to recruit and retain strong management, implement operational and financial information systems and controls, or expand, train, manage or motivate our workforce, could lead to delays in developing and achieving expected operating results for these new offerings.

We rely on third-party service providers for many aspects of our business, including automobile pricing and other data, and any failure to maintain these relationships could harm our business.

Our business relies on the collection, use and analysis of third-party data for the benefit of our car buying consumers, dealer customers and advertisers. We use information about automobiles, ownership history and pricing from third parties, including OEMs, dealers and others, in various aspects of our business. In addition, our ability to grow our user base depends, in part, on the availability and quality of data relating to potential users of our platform. If the third parties on which we depend are unable to provide data, experience difficulty meeting our requirements or standards, or revoke or fail to renew our licenses for such data, we could have difficulty operating key aspects of our business. In addition, if these third-party service providers were to cease operations, temporarily or permanently, face financial distress or other business disruption or increase their fees, or if our relationship with these providers were to deteriorate, we could suffer increased costs and delays in our ability to provide our products to consumers and dealer customers until an equivalent provider could be found or until we develop replacement technology or operations.

We rely on in-house content creation and development to drive traffic to the CARS sites and mobile applications.

We rely on our in-house editorial content team to continually develop content of use and interest to consumers in order to drive traffic to the CARS sites and mobile applications. Our editorial content team tests, reviews and photographs a large number of different car makes and models every year to facilitate our creation of independent and unbiased coverage of the automotive landscape. Our internally developed content focuses primarily on consumer purchasing and ownership advice and analysis of consumer automotive purchasing and ownership trends. If we are unable to continue to develop our in-house content, we may be required to rely more

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heavily on third-party content providers, which would lead to less distinctive content on our sites and increased operating costs. Additionally, if we are unable to continue providing the same level of high-quality, unique consumer content, consumer traffic across the CARS sites and mobile applications could decrease. Such a decrease may lead to dealers receiving fewer indications of consumer interest through leads generated by the CARS sites and mobile applications, and recognizing less value for their digital advertising spend. As a result, dealers may not continue to list their vehicles on the CARS sites and mobile applications. Similarly, decreased traffic due to a failure to continue developing unique content in-house may cause national advertisers such as OEMs to shift their digital advertising spend to sites with higher traffic. Any of the foregoing could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

We rely in part on Internet search engines and mobile application download stores to drive traffic to the CARS sites and mobile applications. If the CARS sites and mobile applications fail to appear prominently in these search results, traffic to the CARS sites and mobile applications would decline and our business, results of operations or financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

We depend, in part, on Internet search engines such as Google to drive traffic to the CARS sites. For example, when a user types the make and model of a specific automobile or a generic phrase, such as “automobile prices,” into an Internet search engine, we rely on a high organic search ranking of the CARS sites in these search results to drive user traffic. However, our ability to maintain these high search result rankings is not fully within our control. For example, our competitors’ search engine optimization efforts may result in their websites receiving a higher search result page ranking than us, or Internet search engines could revise their methodologies in a way that would adversely affect our search result rankings. In addition, Internet search engines could provide automobile dealer and pricing information directly in search results or choose to align with our competitors or develop competing services. The CARS sites have experienced fluctuations in search result rankings in the past, and it is anticipated that similar fluctuations will occur in the future.

Additionally, we depend in part on mobile application download stores such as the Apple App Store and Google Play to direct traffic towards CARS’ mobile applications. When a mobile device user searches in a mobile application download store for “car buying app” or a similar phrase, we rely on both a high search ranking and consumer brand awareness to drive consumers to select and download CARS mobile applications instead of those of our competitors. However, our ability to maintain high, nonpaid search result rankings in mobile application download stores is not fully within our control. Our competitors’ mobile application download store search optimization efforts may result in their mobile applications receiving a higher result ranking than that of Cars.com, or mobile application download stores could revise their methodologies in a way that would adversely affect our search result rankings.

If Internet search engines or mobile application download stores modify their search algorithms in ways that negatively impact traffic to the CARS sites or CARS mobile apps, or if the search engine or mobile application download store optimization efforts of our competitors are more successful than our own efforts, overall growth in our user base could slow or the user base could decline.

The value of our assets or operations may be diminished if our information technology systems fail to perform adequately.

Our information technology systems are critically important to operating our business efficiently and effectively. Our brand, reputation and ability to attract consumers and advertisers depend on the reliability of our technology platforms and the ability to continuously deliver content. Interruptions in our information technology systems, whether due to system failures, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, capacity constraints, power outages, local or widespread Internet outages, telecommunications breakdowns or other uncontrollable events, could affect the security or availability of products on our sites or our mobile applications or prevent or inhibit the ability of consumers to access our products. The failure of our information technology systems to perform as anticipated could disrupt our business and result in transaction errors, processing inefficiencies, decreased use of our sites or mobile applications and loss of sales and customers. Moreover, we continually upgrade and enhance our technology. The failure to complete an upgrade or enhancement as planned, or an unexpected result of a technology upgrade, could affect the security or availability of our products and services and could lead to loss of consumer visits and customers.

We rely on technology systems’ availability and ability to prevent unauthorized access. If our security and resiliency measures fail to prevent incidents, it could result in damage to our reputation, incur costs and create liabilities.

Like other technology-based businesses, our solutions may be subject to attacks from computer viruses, break-ins, phishing attacks, unauthorized use, attempts to overload services with denial-of-service and other attacks. Any attack or disruption could negatively impact our ability to attract new consumers, dealers or advertisers and could deter current consumers, dealers or advertisers from using our solutions, or subject us to lawsuits, regulatory fines or other action or liability.

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We rely on, among other security measures, firewalls, anti-malware, intrusion prevention systems, distributed denial-of-service mitigation services, web content filtering, encryption and authentication technology licensed from third parties. We also depend on the security of our networks and partially on the security of our third-party service providers.

Although we believe that our resiliency planning and security controls are appropriate to our exposures to system outages, service interruptions, security incidents and breaches, there is no guarantee that these plans and controls will prevent all such incidents. Techniques used to disable or degrade service or gain unauthorized access to systems or data change frequently and may not be recognized until damage is detected. We maintain cyber risk insurance, but this insurance may not be sufficient to cover all losses from any future disruption, security incident or breach.

Our business depends on strong brand recognition, and any failure to maintain, protect and enhance our brands could hurt our ability to retain or expand our base of consumers, customers and advertisers, and our ability to increase the frequency with which consumers, dealers and advertisers use our services.

We believe that maintaining and increasing the strong recognition of the CARS brands is critical to the Company’s future success. We are known for attracting a large base of in-market car shoppers by offering credible and easy-to-understand information from consumers and experts and an unrivaled set of new and used vehicle listings for consumers to view. In addition, OEMs, dealers and other advertisers rely on our innovative digital marketing services to drive results in their businesses. To grow our business, we must maintain, protect and enhance our brands. Otherwise, we may be unable to expand our base of consumers, customers and advertisers, or to increase the frequency with which such constituents use or purchase our services. Expanding the business will depend, in part, on our ability to maintain the trust that consumers, customers and advertisers place in our services and the quality and integrity of the listings and other content found on the CARS sites and mobile applications. In addition, any negative publicity about us, including about our solutions, technologies, sales practices, personnel or customer service, could diminish confidence in and the use of our services. If we experience persistent negative publicity, or if consumers otherwise perceive that content on the CARS sites or mobile applications is not reliable, our reputation, the value of our brands and traffic to our sites and mobile applications could decline.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to continue to successfully develop and launch new products or grow our complementary product offerings.

Our future success will depend, in part, upon our ability to continue to enhance and improve the value of our products and services through the development of new products and services and new value-added features for existing products and services, as well as our ability to leverage our brand recognition and existing operations to enter into new complementary markets successfully. Historically, we have been successful in increasing revenue through the launch of new products, services and value-added features and in entering complementary markets through the launch of new products and services. However, such historical success does not assure that we will continue to be successful in developing or introducing new products, services and value-added features, or that these new products, services and features will achieve market acceptance, enhance the value of our brand or permit us to enter new, complementary markets successfully. Further, the development of new products and services in response to evolving customer demands and competitive pressures requires significant time and resources and there can be no assurance that our development efforts will be effective in permitting us to maintain or grow our market share or to enter new markets in a cost-effective manner, or at all.

Our business is dependent on keeping pace with advances in technology. If we are unable to keep pace with advances in technology, consumers may stop using our services and our revenue may decrease.

The Internet and electronic commerce markets are characterized by rapid technological change, changes in user and customer requirements and expectations, frequent new service and product introductions embodying new technologies, including mobile

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applications, and the emergence of new industry standards and practices that could render our existing sites, mobile applications and technology obsolete. These market characteristics are intensified by the emerging nature of the market and the fact that many companies are expected to introduce new Internet products and services in the near future. If we are unable to adapt to changing technologies, our business, results of operations or financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

If we do not adapt to automated buying strategies quickly, our display advertising revenue could be adversely affected.

The majority of the display advertising purchased by our national, regional and near endemic advertisers (e.g. insurance advertisers, finance advertisers) is still done manually, via insertion orders. Recently however, advertisers of all kinds have been shifting from buying media directly with premium publishers like us to buying their target audiences via the ad exchanges across the broader Internet. While we have grown our programmatic revenue and are developing new, programmatic ad products and are redesigning our ad delivery technology stack, we may not adapt fast enough and may lose display advertising revenue as a result. Due to the concentrated number of national advertisers, our National advertising business can be materially impacted by shifts in media strategy, marketing strategies, agency changes, and financial results of our clients. These changes may occur independent of the products and value we are providing to those advertisers. In addition, the increasing use of ad blockers may reduce the quantity or types of display ads and cookies collected to serve ads.

If our mobile applications do not continue to meet consumer demands or we are unable to successfully monetize our mobile advertising solutions, our business, results of operations or financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

Our future success will depend, in part, on our ability to keep pace with consumer technology trends and to ensure we grow our share of the mobile application market so that total advertising impressions across our sites and mobile applications continue to increase. Among other things, we may not be able to successfully introduce new products and services on our mobile application platforms, consumers and dealers may believe that the mobile applications and product features of our competitors are superior, and our mobile applications could become incompatible with future operating systems for mobile devices or new mobile device technology. Additionally, in the event that consumer trends lead to market demand for separate digital advertising pricing models for sites and mobile applications, the monetization of mobile advertising could present challenges to our business due to, among other things, lower rates, decreased consumer attention and display advertising design constraints on mobile applications. If use of our mobile applications stagnates or declines, we are not able to successfully monetize mobile application advertising or we cannot adapt our products and services to another form of data viewing, whether on new mobile devices or otherwise, in a timely and cost-effective manner or at all, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, our growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

Dealer closures or consolidation among dealers or OEMs could reduce demand for, and the pricing of, our marketing and solutions offerings, thereby leading to decreased earnings.

When dealers consolidate, the services they previously purchased separately are often purchased by the combined entity in a lesser quantity than before, leading to volume compression and loss of revenue across the automotive marketplace sector. In the past, dealers have been more likely to close or consolidate when general economic conditions and/or conditions in the automotive industry are poor. Despite our market position, consolidation or closures of automobile dealers could reduce the aggregate demand for our services in the future and limit the amounts we earn for our solutions. In addition, advertising purchased by OEMs accounts for a meaningful portion of our revenue. There are a limited number of OEMs, and financial difficulties or consolidation among OEMs could similarly lead to volume compression and loss of revenue.

If growth in the online and mobile automotive advertising market stagnates or declines, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

We believe that future growth in the online and mobile automotive advertising market will be driven, in part, by dealers and brand advertisers increasingly shifting their advertising spending away from traditional media such as newspapers, radio and television, and toward online and mobile advertising. To the extent that overall automotive related advertising does not continue to shift online or to mobile applications, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

Uncertainty exists in the application of various laws and regulations to our business, including privacy laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act and new tax laws and interpretations. New laws or regulations applicable to our business, or the expansion or interpretation of existing laws and regulations to apply to our business, could subject us to licensing requirements, claims, judgments and remedies, including sales and use taxes, other monetary liabilities and limitations on our business practices, and could increase administrative costs.

We operate in a regulatory climate in which there is uncertainty as to the applicability of various laws and regulations to our business. Our business could be significantly affected by different interpretations or applications of existing laws or regulations, future laws or

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regulations or actions or rulings by judicial or regulatory authorities. Our operations may be subjected to adoption, expansion or interpretation of various laws and regulations, and compliance with these laws and regulations may require us to obtain licenses at an undeterminable and possibly significant initial and annual expense. Similarly, state tax authorities could take aggressive positions as to whether certain of our products are subject to sales and use taxes, leading to increased tax exposure. These additional expenditures may materially and adversely affect our future results of operations, whether directly through increasing future overhead or indirectly by forcing us to pass on these additional costs to our customers, making our solutions less competitive. There can be no assurances that future laws or regulations or interpretations or expansions of existing laws or regulations will not impose requirements on Internet commerce that could substantially impair the growth of e-commerce and adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition. The adoption of additional laws or regulations may decrease the popularity or impede the expansion of e-commerce and Internet marketing, restrict our present business practices, require us to implement costly compliance procedures or expose us and/or our customers to potential liability.

We may be considered to “operate” or “do business” in states where our customers conduct their businesses, resulting in possible regulatory action. If any state licensing laws were determined to be applicable to us, and if we are required to be licensed and are unable to do so, or are otherwise unable to comply with laws or regulations, we could be subject to fines or other penalties or be compelled to discontinue operations in those states. If any state’s regulatory requirements impose state-specific requirements on us or include us within an industry-specific regulatory scheme, we may be required to modify our marketing programs in that state in a manner that may undermine such program’s attractiveness to consumers, customers or advertisers. Alternatively, if we determine that the licensing and related requirements are overly burdensome, we may elect to terminate operations in that state.

All states comprehensively regulate vehicle sales and lease transactions, including strict licensure requirements for dealers (and, in some states, brokers) and vehicle advertising. We believe that most of these laws and regulations specifically apply only to traditional vehicle purchase and lease transactions, not Internet-based lead referral programs like ours. If we determine that the licensing or other regulatory requirements in a given state are applicable to us or to a particular marketing services program, we may elect to obtain the required licenses and comply with applicable regulatory requirements. However, if licensing or other regulatory requirements are overly burdensome, we may elect to terminate operations or particular marketing services programs in that state or elect to not introduce particular marketing services programs in that state. As we introduce new services, we may need to incur additional costs associated with additional licensing regulations and regulatory requirements.

Strategic acquisitions, investments and partnerships could pose various risks, increase our leverage, dilute existing stockholders and significantly impact our ability to expand our overall profitability.

Acquisitions involve inherent risks, such as potentially increasing leverage and debt service requirements and combining company cultures and facilities, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition and could strain our human resources. We may be unable to successfully implement effective cost controls or achieve expected synergies as a result of an acquisition. Acquisitions may result in our assumption of unexpected liabilities and the diversion of management’s attention from the operation of our core business. Acquisitions may also result in our having greater exposure to the industry risks of the businesses underlying the acquisition. Strategic investments and partnerships with other companies expose us to the risk that we may not be able to control the operations of our investee or partnership, which could decrease the amount of benefits we realize from a particular relationship. We are also exposed to the risk that our partners in strategic investments and infrastructure may encounter financial difficulties that could lead to disruption of investee or partnership activities, or impairment of assets acquired, which could adversely affect future reported results of operations and stockholders’ equity. Acquisitions may subject us to new or different regulations or tax consequences which could have an adverse effect on our operations.

In addition, we may be unable to obtain the financing necessary to complete acquisitions on attractive terms or at all. If we raise additional funds through future issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our existing stockholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of holders of our common stock. Future equity financings would also decrease our earnings per share and the benefits derived from such new ventures or acquisitions might not outweigh or exceed their dilutive effect. Any additional debt financing we secure could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital or to pursue business opportunities.

The value of our existing goodwill and intangible assets may become impaired, depending upon future operating results.

Our goodwill and other intangible assets were approximately $1.8 billion as of December 31, 2019, representing approximately 91% of our total assets. We evaluate our goodwill and other intangible assets to determine whether all or a portion of their carrying values may no longer be recoverable, in which case a charge to earnings may be necessary. Any future evaluations requiring an asset impairment charge for goodwill or other intangible assets would adversely affect future reported results of operations and stockholders’ equity, although such charges would not affect our cash flow.

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Adverse results from litigation or governmental investigations could impact our business practices and operating results.

We face potential liability and expense for legal claims relating to the information that we publish on our sites and mobile applications, including claims for defamation, libel, negligence and copyright or trademark infringement, among others. We may be subject to claims based on our advertising of our business. Although we have not historically been the subject of any such claims that were material, any such claims that we face in the future could divert management time and attention away from our business and result in significant costs to investigate and defend, regardless of the merits of the claims. In some instances, we may elect or be compelled to remove content or may be forced to pay substantial damages if we are unsuccessful in our efforts to defend against these claims. If we elect or are compelled to remove valuable content from our sites or mobile applications, our platforms may become less useful to consumers and our traffic may decline.

Misappropriation or infringement of our intellectual property and proprietary rights, enforcement actions to protect our intellectual property and claims from third parties relating to intellectual property could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Litigation regarding intellectual property rights is common in the Internet and technology industries. We expect that Internet technologies and software products and services may be increasingly subject to third-party infringement claims as the number of competitors in our industry segment grows and the functionality of products in different industry segments overlaps. Our ability to compete depends upon our proprietary systems and technology. While we rely on intellectual property laws, confidentiality agreements and technical measures to protect our proprietary rights, we believe that the technical and creative skills of our personnel, continued development of our proprietary systems and technology, brand name recognition and reliable website maintenance are essential in establishing and maintaining a leadership position and strengthening our brands. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy aspects of our services or to obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Policing unauthorized use of our proprietary rights is difficult and may be expensive. We can provide no assurance that the steps we take will prevent misappropriation of technology or that the agreements entered into for that purpose will be enforceable. Effective trademark, service mark, patent, copyright and trade secret protection may not be available when our products and services are made available online. In addition, if litigation becomes necessary to enforce or protect our intellectual property rights or to defend against claims of infringement or invalidity, such litigation, even if successful, could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention. We also cannot provide any assurance that our products and services do not infringe on the intellectual property rights of third parties. Claims of infringement, even if unsuccessful, could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention. If unsuccessful, we may be subject to preliminary and permanent injunctive relief and monetary damages, which may be trebled in the case of willful infringements.

If we expand into new geographic markets, we may be prevented from using our brands in such markets.

If we expand our business into foreign geographic markets, we may not have the ability to adopt trademarks or domain names that are identical or similar to the trademarks and domain names that we use in the United States and Canada. We may face opposition from third parties over the use of our trademarks and applications to register key trademarks in foreign jurisdictions in which we may expand our presence. Third parties may have already adopted identical or similar trademarks to the ones that we use for our services. If we are unsuccessful in defending against these oppositions, our trademark applications may be denied. We could be forced to pay significant settlement costs or cease the use of our trademarks and associated elements of our brands in those or other jurisdictions. Consequently, international expansion may require us to adopt and promote new trademarks, which may be expensive and place us at a competitive disadvantage.

Our ability to operate effectively could be impaired if we fail to attract and retain our key employees.

Our success depends, in part, upon the continuing contributions of key employees and our continuing ability to attract, develop, motivate and retain highly qualified and skilled personnel. The loss of the services of any of our key employees or the failure to attract or replace qualified personnel may have a material and adverse effect on our business.

Seasonality may cause fluctuations in our revenue and operating results.

Our revenue trends are a reflection of our dealer base throughout the year as new customers purchase subscription advertising packages and existing customers purchase or cancel product enhancements. Our display advertising business, targeted to OEMs, experiences some seasonality as a result of consumers’ car buying patterns and the introduction of new vehicle models from OEMs. Our revenue and operating results have historically been lowest in the first quarter of the calendar year, and we expect this trend to continue. In addition to these seasonal effects, our revenue and operations may be affected by macroeconomic conditions in the automotive sector.

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Our business could be negatively affected as a result of actions of activist stockholders, and such activism could impact the trading value of our common stock.

Stockholders may from time to time attempt to effect changes, engage in proxy solicitations or advance stockholder proposals. Activist stockholders may make strategic proposals related to our business, strategy, management or operations or may request changes to the composition of our Board of Directors. We cannot predict, and no assurances can be given as to, the outcome or timing of any such matters. In the event of a proxy contest, our business could be adversely affected. Responding to a proxy contest can be costly, time-consuming and disruptive, and can divert the attention of our management and employees from the operation of our business and execution of our strategic plan. Additionally, if individuals are elected to our Board of Directors with a specific agenda, it may adversely affect our ability to effectively implement our strategic plan and create additional value for our stockholders. Further, perceived uncertainties as to our future direction, including uncertainties related to the composition of our Board of Directors, may lead to the perception of instability or a change in the direction of our business, which may be exploited by our competitors, cause concern to current or potential customers, result in the loss of potential business opportunities, make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel and/or affect our relationships with vendors, customers and other third parties. Moreover, a proxy contest could cause significant fluctuations in the price of our common stock based on temporary or speculative market perceptions or other factors that do not necessarily reflect the underlying fundamentals and prospects of our business.

Risks Relating to our Debt Agreements

Our debt agreements contain restrictions that may limit our flexibility in operating our business.

Our debt agreements contain various covenants that limit our flexibility in operating our businesses, including our ability to engage in specified types of transactions and requires that a portion of our cash flow from operations be used to service this debt, which reduces cash flow available for other corporate purposes, including capital expenditures and acquisitions. Subject to certain exceptions, these covenants restrict our ability and the ability of our subsidiaries to, among other things:

Increases in interest rates could increase interest payable under our variable rate indebtedness.

53.7% of our outstanding indebtedness as of December 31, 2019 includes variable rate indebtedness under our financing arrangements. As a result of this indebtedness, we are subject to interest rate risk. Our interest rates are based on a floating rate index, and changes in interest rates could increase the amount of our interest payments and thus negatively impact our future earnings and cash flows. Although we have entered into interest rate swap agreements on our term loan facility to reduce interest rate volatility, we cannot assure you we will be able to enter into interest rate swap agreements in the future on acceptable terms or that such swaps or the swaps we have in place now will be effective. If we do not have sufficient cash flow to make interest payments, we may be required to refinance all or part of our outstanding debt, sell assets, borrow additional money or sell securities, none of which we can guarantee we would be able to complete on acceptable terms or at all.

Uncertainty relating to the LIBOR calculation process and potential phasing out of LIBOR after 2021 may adversely affect the market value of our current or future debt obligations, including our long-term debt instruments and our bank credit facilities.

Regulators and law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom and elsewhere are conducting civil and criminal investigations into whether the banks that contributed to the British Bankers’ Association (the “BBA”) in connection with the calculation of daily LIBOR may have been under-reporting or otherwise manipulating or attempting to manipulate LIBOR. A number of BBA member banks have entered into settlements with their regulators and law enforcement agencies with respect to this alleged manipulation of LIBOR. Actions by the BBA or any other administrator of LIBOR, regulators or law enforcement agencies may result in changes to the manner in which LIBOR is determined, the phasing out of LIBOR or the establishment of alternative reference rates. For example, on July 27, 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced that it intends to stop persuading or compelling banks to submit LIBOR rates after 2021. As a result, LIBOR may be discontinued by 2021. As a response to the phase out of LIBOR, the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York organized the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (“ARRC”), which identified the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) as its preferred alternative to U.S. dollar-LIBOR in derivatives and other financial contracts. The Company is not able to predict when LIBOR will cease to be available or when there will be sufficient liquidity in the SOFR markets. At this time, it is not possible to predict whether any such changes will occur, whether LIBOR will be

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phased out or when there will be sufficient liquidity in the SOFR markets or the effect that any such changes, phase out, alternative reference rates or other reforms, if they occur, would have on the amount of interest paid on, or the market value of, our current or future debt obligations and interest-rate swaps, including our long-term debt instruments and our bank credit facilities. Uncertainty as to the nature of such potential changes, phase out, alternative reference rates or other reforms may materially adversely affect the trading market for LIBOR-based securities, including our long-term debt instruments, our interest-rate swaps and our bank credit facilities. Reform of, or the replacement or phasing out of, LIBOR and proposed regulation of LIBOR and other “benchmarks” may materially adversely affect the market value of, the applicable interest rate on and the amount of interest paid on our current or future debt obligations and our interest-rate swaps, including our long-term debt instruments and our bank credit facilities.

Risks Relating to our Common Stock

We do not expect to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future.

We intend to retain future earnings to finance and grow our business. As a result, we do not expect to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. All decisions regarding the payment of dividends will be made in the sole discretion of our Board of Directors from time to time in accordance with applicable law. There can be no assurance that we will have sufficient surplus under Delaware law to be able to pay any dividends at any time in the future. This may result from lower revenue, extraordinary cash expenses, actual costs exceeding contemplated costs, funding of capital expenditures or increases in reserves.

Your percentage of ownership in the Company may be diluted in the future.

In the future, your percentage ownership in the Company may be diluted because of equity awards that we will be granting to our directors, officers and employees or otherwise as a result of equity issuances for acquisitions or capital market transactions. Such awards will have a dilutive effect on our earnings per share, which could adversely affect the market price of our common stock. From time to time, we will issue additional stock-based awards to our employees under our employee benefits plans.

In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue, without the approval of our stockholders, one or more classes or series of preferred stock that have such designation, powers, preferences and relative, participating, optional and other special rights, including preferences over our common stock with respect to dividends and distributions, as our Board of Directors generally may determine. The terms of one or more classes or series of preferred stock could dilute the voting power or reduce the value of our common stock. Similarly, the repurchase or redemption rights or liquidation preferences we could assign to holders of preferred stock could affect the residual value of the common stock.

Certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation, by-laws, and Delaware law may discourage takeovers and limit our ability to use, acquire, or develop certain competing businesses.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated by-laws contain certain provisions that may discourage, delay or prevent a change in our management or control over us. For example, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated by-laws, collectively:

These provisions could discourage potential acquisition proposals and could delay or prevent a change in control, even though a majority of stockholders may consider such proposal, if effected, desirable. Such provisions could also make it more difficult for third parties to remove and replace the members of our Board of Directors. Moreover, these provisions may inhibit increases in the trading price of our common stock that may result from takeover attempts or speculation. 

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Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the state courts of the State of Delaware, or, if no state court located in the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal court for the District of Delaware, as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could discourage lawsuits against us and our directors and officers.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless our board of directors otherwise determines, the state courts of the State of Delaware, or, if no state court located in the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal court for the District of Delaware, will be the sole and exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, any action asserting a claim for or based on a breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our current or former directors or officers to us or to our stockholders, including a claim alleging the aiding and abetting of such a breach of fiduciary duty; any action asserting a claim against us or any of our current or former directors or officers arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws; any action asserting a claim relating to or involving us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine; or any action asserting an “internal corporate claim” as such term is defined in the DGCL. This exclusive forum provision may limit the ability of our stockholders to bring a claim in a judicial forum that such stockholders find favorable for disputes with us or our current or former directors or officers, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our current or former directors and officers. Alternatively, if a court outside of Delaware were to find this exclusive forum provision inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings described above, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments. None.

Item 2. Properties. We maintain administrative offices and other facilities to support our operations. We have leases for our principal executive office in Chicago, Illinois and other offices located in Naperville, Illinois; Waltham, Massachusetts; Appleton, Wisconsin; and Santa Monica, California. We believe that our facilities are adequate to meet our needs for the immediate future, and that should it be needed, we will be able to secure additional space to accommodate any such expansion of our operations.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings. From time to time, we may be party to various claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of our business. We do not believe that we have any pending litigation that, separately or in the aggregate, would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows. We hereby incorporate by reference Note 10 (Commitments and Contingencies) to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures. None.

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PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities. Our common stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol “CARS.” “When issued” trading of our common stock commenced on the NYSE on May 15, 2017. “Regular way” trading began on June 1, 2017, the day of the Separation. Based on reports by our transfer agent for our common stock, as of February 19, 2020, there were 5,120 holders of record of our common stock.

Cumulative Stockholder Return Graph. The following graph shows the cumulative total stockholder return for our common stock during the period from May 18, 2017 to December 31, 2019. The graph also shows the cumulative returns of Standard and Poor’s (“S&P”) MidCap 400 Index and Research Data Group’s (“RDG”) Internet Composite Index. The comparison assumes $100 was invested on May 18, 2017 in CARS common stock. The cumulative stockholder return graph for the year ended December 31, 2017, included in the 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K, utilized the S&P MidCap 400 Internet Software & Services Index, which was discontinued as of September 30, 2018.

Purchases of Equity Securities by Issuer. Our share repurchase activity for the three months ended December 31, 2019 is as follows:

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Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities. None.

Use of Proceeds from Registered Securities. None.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data. We derived the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income data for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 and the Consolidated Balance Sheet data as of December 31, 2019 and 2018 from our audited Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements, which are included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We derived the Consolidated and Combined Statement of (Loss) Income data for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015 and the Consolidated and Combined Balance Sheet data as of December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 from our audited Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements, which are not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The selected financial data is not necessarily indicative of the results of future operations and should be read in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. The following discussion and analysis of our business, financial condition, results of operations and quantitative and qualitative disclosures should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion and analysis also contains forward-looking statements and should also be read in conjunction with the disclosures and information contained in “Note About Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The financial information discussed below and included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K may not necessarily reflect what our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows would have been had we been a stand-alone company during the applicable periods presented or what our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be in the future.

References in this discussion and analysis to “CARS”, “we,” “us,” “our” and similar terms refer to Cars.com Inc. and its subsidiaries, collectively, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Business Overview. We are a leading digital marketplace and solutions provider for the automotive industry that connects car shoppers with sellers and original equipment manufacturers (“OEM”s). Our marketplace empowers shoppers with the resources and information to make confident car buying decisions while our digital solutions and technology platform help sellers improve operational efficiency, profitability and sales. Our portfolio of brands includes Cars.com, Dealer Inspire and DealerRater, in addition to Auto.com, PickupTrucks.com and NewCars.com. 

In May 2017, we separated from our former parent company, TEGNA Inc. (“TEGNA”) by means of a spin-off of a newly formed company, Cars.com Inc., which now owns TEGNA’s former digital automotive marketplace business (the “Separation”). Our common stock began trading “regular way” on the New York Stock Exchange on June 1, 2017. In February 2018, the Company acquired all of the outstanding stock of Dealer Inspire, Inc. and substantially all of the net assets of Launch Digital Marketing LLC (the “DI Acquisition”).

Overview of Results.

2019 and Recent Highlights.

Fourth Quarter Dealer Count Growth. In the fourth quarter of 2019, dealer customers grew by almost 200 to 18,834 as of December 31, 2019, as compared with 18,635 as of September 30, 2019. This increase was a result of improved retention rates as well as growth in new dealer customers added during the fourth quarter. We experienced growth in both local dealer customers and our solutions-only customers.

Increases in Traffic. Traffic is critical to our business. Traffic to the CARS network of websites and mobile apps provides value to our advertisers in terms of audience, awareness, consideration and conversion. Traffic provides an indication of our consumer reach. Although our consumer reach does not directly result in revenue, we believe our ability to reach in-market car shoppers is attractive to our dealers and national advertisers. We have been diligently focused on growing our audience, the fundamental deliverable of any marketplace business.

In 2019, we had record SEO Traffic growth. During this period, we achieved 24% growth in Traffic and 21% growth in Average Monthly Unique Visitors. Driven by our product innovations and investments in and efficiencies gained in search engine optimization,

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brand awareness and paid channels, we have experienced consistent year-over-year Traffic growth since January 2018, and in August 2019 we recorded the highest-trafficked month in our history and subsequently broke that record in January 2020. In addition, we have been increasing our share of unique visitors throughout 2019.

New OEM Agreement. In 2019, we were selected as a preferred website provider to General Motors (“GM”). This allowed us to begin selling our website solutions to more than 4,100 GM dealers. This program is non-exclusive and provides GM dealers a choice in provider for the first time in 15 years. Currently in the pilot phase, we expect to launch websites for GM customers in 2020. This new agreement provides us with the opportunity to substantially increase our current website customer base, which was approximately 3,200 as of December 31, 2019.

Affiliate Conversions. As of October 1, 2019, we have successfully converted all affiliates to our direct control. We amended five of our affiliate agreements (Gannett, the McClatchy Company (“McClatchy”), TEGNA, tronc, Inc. (“tronc”), and the Washington Post). The Belo affiliate agreement expired on October 1, 2019. We now have a direct relationship with all dealer customers and recognize the revenue associated with converted dealers as Retail revenue, rather than Wholesale revenue, in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income. Beginning July 2020, upon the expiration of the affiliate agreements, we will realize incremental Free Cash Flow, as we will no longer be required to make any further payments to the affiliates under these agreements. Free Cash Flow is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures, including purchases of property and equipment and capitalization of internal-use software and website development costs. For information related to the Unfavorable contracts liability, see Note 7 (Unfavorable Contracts Liability) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Credit Agreement Amendment. In October 2019, we entered into an amendment to our Credit Agreement to increase the total net leverage covenant during the remaining term of the Credit Agreement while preserving the favorable pricing structure from the original agreement. The amendment increases our maximum total net leverage ratio from 3.75x to 4.50x with incremental step downs through maturity on May 31, 2022.

Completion of Strategic Alternatives Review. In August 2019, we announced the conclusion of the strategic alternatives review process first announced on January 16, 2019. The strategic alternatives review process was public, comprehensive and deliberate, lasting ten months. After extensive negotiations and discussions, no actionable proposals for a sale were available to us. As a result, our Board of Directors unanimously concluded that the best interests of our stockholders are served by continuing to focus on the execution of our strategic plan and opportunities to drive growth and stockholder returns as an independent public company. We remain open to all potential value-creating opportunities.

Technology Transformation. In February 2019, we announced a restructuring of the product and technology teams (the “Technology Transformation”). This restructuring is primarily focused on shifting our technology spend towards innovation to improve our speed of product delivery, to enable integration across current and future systems, and to migrate our systems to the cloud. In connection with the Technology Transformation, we have aligned our product and technology teams with our long-term growth strategy to expand beyond listings to a digital solutions marketplace. As part of this process, we have streamlined the existing teams as we modernize our technology platform and invest in a more efficient cloud-based infrastructure focused on machine learning, product innovation and growth. Further, we expect to achieve cost efficiencies upon completion of the Technology Transformation.

Sales Transformation. In December 2018, we restructured the sales team (the “Sales Transformation”), with the primary goal of better serving our customers. We reorganized the sales force into teams designed to provide the full range of enhanced services to current customers and a more tailored structure to win new customers. These changes reflect the expansion of our business beyond car listings to include value-added digital solutions such as innovations from Dealer Inspire and DealerRater. The Sales Transformation also reflects a realignment of territories following the conversion of the affiliate agreements.

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Key Operating Metrics. We regularly review a number of key metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make operating and strategic decisions. Information regarding Traffic, Average Monthly Unique Visitors and Direct Monthly Average Revenue Per Dealer is as follows:

Information regarding our Dealer Customers is as follows:

Traffic (Visits). Traffic is critical to our business. Traffic to the CARS network of websites and mobile apps provides value to our advertisers in terms of audience, awareness, consideration and conversion. In addition to tracking traffic volume and sources, we monitor activity on our properties, allowing us to innovate and refine our consumer-facing offerings. Traffic is defined as the number of visits to CARS desktop and mobile properties (responsive sites and mobile apps), using Adobe Analytics. Traffic does not include traffic to Dealer Inspire websites. Visits refers to the number of times visitors accessed CARS properties during the period, no matter how many visitors make up those visits. Traffic provides an indication of our consumer reach. Although our consumer reach does not directly result in revenue, we believe our ability to reach in-market car shoppers is attractive to our dealer customers and national advertisers.

The growth in Traffic was driven by our product innovations and investments in and efficiencies gained in search engine optimization, brand awareness and paid channels. For the years ended December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, mobile traffic accounted for 72% and 67% of total Traffic, respectively.

Average Monthly Unique Visitors (“UVs”). Growth in unique visitors and consumer traffic to our network of websites and mobile apps increases the number of impressions, clicks, leads and other events we can monetize to generate revenue. We define UVs in a given month as the number of distinct visitors that engage with our platform during that month. Visitors are identified when a user first visits an individual CARS property on an individual device/browser combination, or installs one of our mobile apps on an individual device. If a visitor accesses more than one of our web properties or apps or uses more than one device or browser, each of those unique property/browser/app/device combinations counts towards the number of UVs. UVs do not include Dealer Inspire UVs. We measure UVs using Adobe Analytics.

The growth in UVs was driven by the same factors as our traffic growth, our product innovations and investments in and efficiencies gained in search engine optimization, brand awareness and paid channels.

Average Revenue Per Dealer (“ARPD”). We believe that our ability to grow ARPD is an indicator of the value proposition of our products. We define ARPD as Direct retail revenue during the period divided by the average number of direct Dealer Customers during the same period. Beginning the first quarter of 2019, this key operating metric includes revenue from dealer websites and related digital solutions. ARPD prior to the first quarter of 2019 has not been recast to include Dealer Inspire as it would be impracticable to do so.

ARPD decreased 2% from September 30, 2019, primarily driven by upsell cancellations and dealer churn.

ARPD increased 4% from December 31, 2018, primarily driven by the addition of dealer websites and related digital solutions, as 2018 ARPD did not include these revenue sources. ARPD excluding revenue from dealer websites and related digital solutions was $2,070, down 1% from the prior year.

Dealer Customers. Dealer Customers represent dealerships using our products as of the end of each reporting period. Each physical or virtual dealership location is counted separately, whether it is a single-location proprietorship or part of a large consolidated dealer group. Multi-franchise dealerships at a single location are counted as one dealer.

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Total Dealer Customers increased 1% from September 30, 2019. Dealer Customers increased, primarily due to growth in direct local dealer customers, reflecting improved retention rates and a stabilization in cancellation rates.

Total Dealer Customers declined 5% from December 31, 2018. Dealer Customers decreased, primarily due to higher cancellations of marketplace customers, in particular in the first half of 2019, partially offset by growth in digital solutions customers.

Factors Affecting Our Performance. Our business is impacted by the ever-changing larger automotive environment, including consumer demand and other macroeconomic factors, and changes related to automotive digital advertising solutions. We have observed softness in new car sales in the United States and reduced dealer profitability, which has impacted OEMs’ and dealerships’ willingness to increase spend with automotive marketplaces like Cars.com. Our success will depend in part on our ability to continue to transform our business toward a multi-faceted suite of digital solutions that complement our media offerings. We are adapting our go-to-market sales and technology infrastructure, as described in the Sales and Technology Transformations discussions above, to support the execution of our strategy. The foundation of our continued success is the value we deliver to customers, and we believe that our large and growing audience of in-market, undecided car shoppers and innovative solutions deliver significant value to our customers.

Results of Operations. For both comparative tables below, the year ended December 31, 2018 has been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation. There is no change to Operating (loss) income as a result of these reclassifications. No such adjustments were required for the year ended December 31, 2017. For further information, see Note 2 (Significant Accounting Policies) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Year Ended December 31, 2019 Compared To Year Ended December 31, 2018

***Not meaningful

Retail Revenue—Direct. Direct revenue consists of marketplace and digital solutions sold to dealer customers. Direct revenue is our largest revenue stream, representing 78.6% and 69.1% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Direct revenue increased by $19.4 million, or 4%, compared to the prior year. As of October 1, 2019, we have successfully converted all affiliates to our direct control, and will no longer have wholesale revenue. We amended five of our affiliate agreements (Gannett,

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McClatchy, TEGNA, tronc, and the Washington Post). The Belo affiliate agreement expired on October 1, 2019. We now have a direct relationship with all dealer customers and recognize the revenue associated with converted dealer customers as Retail revenue, rather than Wholesale revenue, in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the affiliate market conversions contributed an incremental $52.5 million to Direct revenue measured at the month of each of the conversions, while reducing Wholesale revenue by $39.2 million (of which $5.1 million relates to the Unfavorable contracts liability amortization). For information related to the affiliate market conversions, see Note 7 (Unfavorable Contracts Liability) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Also included in Retail Revenue – Direct is dealer websites and related digital solutions and digital marketing services, which grew 45% year over year or 25% on a pro forma basis, for the year ended December 31, 2019, as compared to the year ended December 31, 2018.

These increases were partially offset by a 5% decline in direct dealer customers from December 31, 2018.

Retail Revenue—National Advertising. National advertising revenue consists of display advertising and other solutions sold to OEMs, advertising agencies and automotive adjacencies. National advertising revenue represents 13.3% and 15.9% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. National advertising revenue declined 23%, as OEMs reduced their full year 2019 upfront commitments, reduced their advertising budgets and shifted their spending to programmatic. Incremental sales to OEMs have been lower in volume and rate.

Wholesale Revenue. Wholesale revenue represents the fees we charge for marketplace and digital solutions sold to dealer customers by affiliates. The fees represent approximately 60% of the retail value for the same marketplace subscription advertising sold by our direct sales team. Wholesale revenue represents 5.7% and 12.5% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Wholesale revenue decreased 59%, primarily due to affiliate market conversions from Wholesale revenue ($39.2 million, which includes $5.1 million of Unfavorable contracts liability amortization) to Direct revenue ($52.5 million). Excluding the affiliate market conversions, Wholesale revenue was impacted by a 17% decline in affiliate dealer customers. As of October 1, 2019, we have successfully converted all affiliates to our direct control and going forward, we will no longer record Wholesale revenue. For information related to the affiliate market conversions, see Note 7 (Unfavorable Contracts Liability) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Cost of revenue and operations. Cost of revenue and operations expense primarily consists of expenses related to our pay-per-lead products, third-party costs for product fulfillment and dealer vehicle inventory processing, and compensation costs. Cost of revenue and operations expense represents 16.4% and 13.7% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Cost of revenue and operations expense increased $9.1 million, primarily due to higher third-party costs and compensation, principally due to growth in dealer websites and related digital solutions and social product offerings, which have an inherently higher cost of revenue.

Product and technology. The product team creates and manages consumer and dealer-facing innovation, manages consumer user experience and includes the costs associated with our editorial, SEO and data strategy teams. The technology team develops and supports our products and websites. Product and technology expense includes compensation costs, as well as license fees for vehicle specifications, search engine optimization, hardware/software maintenance, software licenses, data center and other infrastructure costs. Product and technology expense represents 10.4% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018. Product and technology expense decreased $5.9 million, primarily due to cost efficiencies as a result of the Technology Transformation.

Marketing and sales. Marketing and sales expense primarily consists of traffic and lead acquisition costs (including search engine and other online marketing), TV and digital display/video advertising and creative production, market research, trade events and compensation costs for the marketing, sales and sales support teams. Marketing and sales expense represents 35.8% and 34.2% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Marketing and sales expense decreased $9.3 million, primarily due to lower personnel-related costs as a result of the Sales Transformation, partially offset by strategic marketing investments aimed at consumer acquisitions, consumer engagement and brand awareness.

General and administrative. General and administrative expense primarily consists of compensation costs for the executive, finance, legal, human resources, facilities and other administrative employees. In addition, general and administrative expense includes office space rent, legal and accounting services, other professional services, as well as severance, transformation and other exit costs, costs associated with stockholder activist campaign, and transaction-related costs and costs related to the write-off and loss on assets, excluding the goodwill and intangible asset impairment discussed below. General and administrative expense represents 12.2% and 11.0% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. General and administrative expenses increased

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$0.8 million and 1% versus the prior year. During the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, General and administrative expense included the following costs (in thousands):

Excluding these costs, General and administrative expense increased $4.6 million or 10%, primarily due to compensation.

Affiliate revenue share. Affiliate revenue share expense represents payments made to affiliates pursuant to our affiliate agreements and amortization of the Unfavorable contracts liability related to the markets converted prior to the contractual date. Affiliate revenue share expense increased $5.3 million, primarily due to an increase in payments to the affiliates due to an increase in the number of affiliate markets converted as well as a decrease in the amortization of the Unfavorable contract liability due to the liability becoming fully amortized on October 1, 2019. This amortization is recorded as a reduction of Affiliate revenue share expense, rather than Wholesale revenue for the markets that were converted early. During the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, the impact of this amortization is the following (in thousands):

For information related to the affiliate market conversions, see Note 7 (Unfavorable Contracts Liability) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Depreciation and amortization. Depreciation and amortization expense increased 13%, primarily due to the reduction of the useful lives of certain assets related to the Technology Transformation and the full year impact of the DI Acquisition.

Goodwill and intangible asset impairment. As of September 1, 2019, we determined there was a triggering event, primarily caused by a sustained decrease in our stock price after the completion of the strategic alternatives review process, and performed an interim quantitative impairment test. The results of the goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment tests indicated that the carrying values exceeded the estimated fair values and thus, we recorded an impairment of $379.2 million and $82.3 million, respectively in the third quarter of 2019. For information related to the impairment, see Note 6 (Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Interest expense, net. In order to manage the risk associated with changes in interest rates on our borrowing under the Term Loan, we entered into an interest rate Swap (the “Swap”) effective December 31, 2018. Interest expense, net increased, primarily due to additional interest expense associated with the higher fixed rates and the full year impact of interest related to the borrowing utilized to fund the DI Acquisition. For information related to our Term and Revolving Loans and interest rate swap, see Note 8 (Debt) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.  

Income tax (benefit) expense. The effective income tax rate, expressed by calculating the income tax (benefit) expense as a percentage of Income (Loss) before income tax, was 6% for the year ended December 31, 2019 and differed from the U.S. federal statutory rate of 21%, primarily due to the impairment of goodwill. For information related to income taxes, see Note 14 (Income Taxes) to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Year Ended December 31, 2018 Compared To Year Ended December 31, 2017

***Not meaningful

Retail Revenue—Direct. Direct revenue grew by $124.4 million, or 37%, compared to the prior year. The addition of Dealer Inspire’s business since the date of the DI Acquisition contributed $53.1 million to the Direct revenue increase. Excluding Dealer Inspire, Direct revenue grew $71.3 million, or 21%, from 2017 to 2018 driven by an 11% increase in dealer customers and a 6% increase in ARPD. The affiliate market conversions contributed $88.9 million to Direct revenue measured at the time of each of the conversions, while reducing Wholesale revenue by $78.8 million (of which $18.7 million relates to the Unfavorable contracts liability amortization). Excluding Dealer Inspire and affiliate market conversions, Direct revenue declined $16.5 million, primarily due to a 10% decline in Dealer customers.

Retail Revenue—National Advertising. National advertising revenue decreased 8% from 2017 to 2018, as OEMs reduced their spending mostly due to the cyclical nature of the auto industry. The majority of the decline relates to reductions by three OEM customers.

Wholesale Revenue. Wholesale revenue decreased primarily due to the affiliate market conversions from Wholesale revenue ($78.8 million, which includes $18.7 million of unfavorable contracts liability amortization) to Direct revenue ($88.9 million). Excluding the affiliate market conversions, Wholesale revenue declined due to a 13% decline in Dealer customers.

Cost of revenue and operations. Cost of revenue and operations expense represents 13.7% and 10.5% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The addition of Dealer Inspire’s business contributed $22.2 million to the overall increase. Excluding Dealer Inspire, Cost of revenue and operations expense increased $2.7 million, primarily due to higher third-party costs related to new product offerings, partially offset by reduced compensation costs associated with lower headcount.

Product and technology. Product and technology expense represents 10.4% and 11.8% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Product and technology expense decreased $5.4 million, primarily due to reduced compensation costs associated with lower headcount and lower third-party costs, partially offset by the addition of Dealer Inspire’s business.

Marketing and sales. Marketing and sales expense represents 34.2% and 33.5% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The addition of Dealer Inspire’s business contributed $13.6 million to the overall increase, as we expanded our salesforce to support our new product offerings and the additional affiliate markets. Excluding Dealer Inspire,

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Marketing and sales expense increased $3.3 million, primarily due to planned strategic marketing investments aimed at consumer acquisition, consumer engagement, brand awareness amongst auto shopping audiences and search engine optimization. Sales compensation costs decreased despite serving approximately 3,500 incremental dealer customers from converted markets.

General and administrative. General and administrative expense increased $28.0 million and 62%, primarily due to $9.8 million in consulting services and other costs incurred as part of our settlement agreement with our stockholder activist; $7.6 million in incremental transaction costs, primarily related to the DI Acquisition and the process to explore strategic alternatives to enhance stockholder value; $6.8 million in incremental stock-based compensation and $3.8 million in costs associated with the Separation of certain employees.

Affiliate revenue share. Affiliate revenue share expense increased 73%, primarily due to an increase in costs associated with the early conversions of the McClatchy, tronc and Washington Post markets, partially offset by amortization of the Unfavorable contracts liability.

Depreciation and amortization. Depreciation and amortization expense increased 17%, primarily due to the incremental amortization expense related to the DI Acquisition.

Interest expense, net. Interest expense, net increased due to interest associated with the Credit Agreement principally utilized to fund the Separation and the DI Acquisition. Prior to the Separation, the Company had no debt. For additional information, see Note 8 (Debt) to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.   

Income tax expense (benefit). Effective with the Separation in May 2017, we established a corporate legal entity structure that is subject to U.S. federal corporate income tax on a stand-alone basis post-Separation. The effective income tax rate, expressed by calculating the income tax expense as a percentage of Income before income taxes, was 31.8% for the year ended December 31, 2018 and differed from the U.S. federal statutory rate of 21%, primarily due to changes in apportionment factors upon the finalization of the post-Spin 2017 state tax returns in the fourth quarter of 2018. The income tax benefit for the year ended December 31, 2017 is based upon seven months of Cars.com, LLC information and twelve months of DealerRater information. For information related to income taxes, see Note 14 (Income Taxes) to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.    

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Overview. Our primary sources of liquidity are cash flows from operations, available cash reserves and debt capacity available under our credit facilities. Our operations have generated positive operating cash flows in 2019 and 2018 which, along with our Term and Revolving Loans described below, provides adequate liquidity to meet our business needs, including those for investments and strategic acquisitions. In addition, we may raise additional funds through other public or private debt or equity financings. See Part I, Item 1A., “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Affiliate Agreements. As of October 1, 2019, we have successfully converted all affiliates to our direct control. We amended five of our affiliate agreements (Gannett, the McClatchy Company (“McClatchy”), TEGNA, tronc, Inc. (“tronc”), and the Washington Post). The Belo affiliate agreement expired on October 1, 2019. We now have a direct relationship with all dealer customers and recognize the revenue associated with converted dealers as Retail revenue, rather than Wholesale revenue, in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income. Beginning July 2020, upon the expiration of the affiliate agreements, we will realize incremental Free Cash Flow, as we will no longer be required to make any further payments to the affiliates under these agreements.

Term Loan and Revolving Loan. As of December 31, 2019, the outstanding principal amount was $648.1 million, at an effective interest rate of 4.2%, including $388.1 million of outstanding principal under the Term Loan, with an effective interest rate of 4.5%, including the impact of the interest rate swap, and outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Loan of $260.0 million, at an effective interest rate of 3.7%. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we made $28.1 million in mandatory Term Loan payments and $20.0 million in voluntary Revolving Loan payments, net of borrowings. As of December 31, 2019, $190.0 million was available to borrow under the Revolving Loan. Our borrowings are limited by our total net leverage ratio, which is calculated in accordance with our Credit Agreement, and was 3.8x as of December 31, 2019. The Credit Agreement requires a total maximum total net leverage of 4.5x with incremental step downs through the maturities of the Term Loan and the Revolving Loan on May 31, 2022. For further information, see Note 8 (Debt) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. 

Interest Rate Swap. The interest rate on borrowings under our Term Loan and Revolving Loan is floating and, therefore, subject to fluctuations. As a result, 53.7% of our interest rates are variable as of December 31, 2019. Under the terms of the Swap, we are locked into a fixed rate of interest of 2.96% plus an applicable margin, as defined in our Credit Agreement, on a notional amount of $300

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million. As of December 31, 2019, the fair value of the Swap was an unrealized loss of $10.2 million. The Swap is designated as a cash flow hedge of interest rate risk and recorded at fair value in Other accrued liabilities and Other noncurrent liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Any gains or losses, net of tax on the Swap are reported as a component of Accumulated other comprehensive loss until reclassed to Interest expense, net in the same period the hedge transaction impacts earnings. For further information, see “Derivative Financial Instrument” under Note 2 (Significant Accounting Polices) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. 

Share Repurchase Program.  In March 2018, our Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program to acquire up to $200 million of our common stock over a two-year period. We may repurchase shares from time to time in open market transactions or through privately negotiated transactions in accordance with applicable federal securities laws. The timing and amounts of any purchases under the share repurchase program will be based on market conditions and other factors including price. The repurchase program does not require the purchase of any minimum number of shares and may be suspended, modified or discontinued at any time without prior notice. During the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, we repurchased and subsequently retired 1.7 million shares for $40.0 million and 3.8 million shares for $97.2 million, respectively.

Cash Flows. Details of our cash flows are as follows (in thousands): 

Operating Activities. The decrease in cash provided by operating activities was primarily related to the reduction of net income, excluding the impact of non-cash items, partially offset by changes in operating assets and liabilities. In addition, the net loss for the year ended December 31, 2019 and the net income for the year ended December 31, 2018 was impacted by the following costs (in thousands):

Investing Activities. The decrease in cash used in investing activities is primarily due to the DI Acquisition in February 2018, partially offset by an increase in purchases of property and equipment.

Financing Activities. During the year ended December 31, 2019, cash used in financing activities is primarily related to $48.1 million of loan repayments, net of borrowings, of which $30.0 million was voluntarily paid and $40.0 million in share repurchase. During the year ended December 31, 2018, cash provided by financing activities is primarily due to net revolving loan borrowings of $135.0 million, principally related to the DI Acquisition in February 2018, partially offset by $97.2 million in share repurchases. For further information, see Note 8 (Debt) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. 

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Contractual Obligations. As of December 31, 2019, we had the following obligations and commitments to make future payments under contracts, contractual obligations and commercial commitments (in thousands):

Commitments and Contingencies. For further information, see Note 10 (Commitments and Contingencies) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements. We do not have any material off-balance sheet arrangements.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ significantly from those estimates. We believe the following discussion addresses our most critical accounting policies, which are those that are important to the presentation of our financial condition and results of operations and require management’s most subjective and complex judgments.

Revenue Recognition. We account for a customer arrangement when we and the customer have an approved contract that specifies the rights and obligations of each party and the payment terms, and we believe it is probable we will collect substantially all of the consideration to which we will be entitled in exchange for the services that will be provided to the customer. We allocate the contractual transaction price to each distinct performance obligation and recognize revenue when it satisfies a performance obligation by providing a service to a customer. Revenue is generated through our direct sales force (Retail revenue) and affiliate sales channels (Wholesale revenue).

Marketplace Subscription Advertising Revenue. Our primary source of Retail revenue and Wholesale revenue are through the sale of marketplace subscription advertising to dealer customers through varying levels of subscription packages. Our subscription packages provide the dealer customer’s available new and used vehicle inventory to in-market shoppers on the Cars.com website. The subscription packages are generally a fixed price arrangement with a contract term ranging from three to six months that is automatically renewed, typically on a month-to month basis. We recognize subscription package revenue ratably as the service is provided over the contract term. Marketplace subscription advertising and services revenue is recorded in Retail revenue and Wholesale revenue in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income.

We also offer our customers several add-on products to the subscription packages. Add-on products include premium advertising products that can be uniquely tailored to an individual dealer customer’s current needs. Substantially all of our add-on products are not sold separately from the subscription packages as the customer cannot benefit from add-on products on their own. Therefore, the subscription packages and add-on products are combined as a single performance obligation, and we recognize the related revenue ratably as the services are provided over the contract term.

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We also provide services, including hosting, related to flexible, custom designed website platforms supporting highly personalized digital marketing campaigns, digital retailing and messaging platform products. We recognize revenue related to these services ratably as the service is provided over the contract term. The related revenue is recorded in Retail revenue in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income.

Prior to October 2019, our affiliates also sold marketplace subscription advertising to dealer customers, and we earned Wholesale revenue through our affiliate agreements. Affiliates were assigned certain sales territories in which they sold our products. Under these agreements, we charged the affiliates 60% of the corresponding Cars.com retail rate for products sold to affiliate dealer customers. We recognized Wholesale revenue ratably as the service is provided over the contract term. In situations where our direct sales force sold our products within an affiliate’s assigned territory, we paid the affiliate a revenue share which was classified as Affiliate revenue share in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income. Wholesale revenue also includes the amortization of the Unfavorable contracts liability. For information related to the Unfavorable contracts liability, see Note 7 (Unfavorable Contracts Liability) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Display Advertising Products and Services Revenue. We also earn revenue through the sale of display advertising on our website to national advertisers, pursuant to transaction-based contracts, which are billed for impressions delivered or click-throughs on their advertisements. An impression is the display of an advertisement to an end-user on the website and is a measure of volume. A click-through occurs when an end-user clicks on an impression. We recognize revenue as the impressions or click-throughs are delivered. If the impressions or click-throughs delivered are less than the amount invoiced to the customer, the difference is recorded as deferred revenue and recognized as revenue when earned. We also provide services related to customized digital marketing and customer acquisition services, including paid, organic, social and creative services to dealer customers. We recognize revenue related to these services at the point in time the service is provided. Display advertising products revenue sold to dealer customers is recorded in Retail revenue in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income.

Pay Per Lead Revenue. We also sell leads, which are connections from consumers to dealer customers in the form of phone calls, emails and text messages, to dealer customers, OEMs and third-party resellers. We recognize pay per lead revenue primarily on a per-lead basis at the point in time in which the lead has been delivered. Revenue related to pay per lead is recorded in Retail and Wholesale revenue, in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income.

Other Revenue. Other revenue primarily includes revenue related to vehicle listing data sold to third-parties and peer-to-peer vehicle advertising. We recognize other revenue either ratably as the services are provided or at the point in time the services have been performed. Other revenue is recorded in Retail revenue in the Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income.

Goodwill. Goodwill represents the excess of acquisition cost over the fair value of assets acquired, including identifiable intangible assets, net of liabilities assumed. Goodwill is tested for impairment on an annual basis or between annual tests if events occur or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying amount. Our goodwill is tested for impairment at a level referred to as the reporting unit. The level at which we test goodwill for impairment requires us to determine whether the operations below the business segment level constitute a business for which discrete financial information is available and segment management regularly reviews the operating results. We have determined that CARS operates as a single reporting unit.

The process of estimating the fair value of goodwill is subjective and requires us to make estimates that may significantly impact the outcome of the analysis. A qualitative assessment is performed at least annually and considers events and circumstances such as macroeconomic conditions, industry and market conditions, cost factors and overall financial performance, as well as company specifications. If after performing this assessment, we conclude it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, then we perform the quantitative test. 

Under the quantitative test, a goodwill impairment is identified by comparing the fair value of the reporting unit to the carrying amount, including goodwill. If the carrying amount of the reporting unit exceeds the fair value of the reporting unit, goodwill is considered impaired and an impairment charge is recognized in an amount equal to the excess, not to exceed the carrying amount of goodwill.

We estimated the fair value of the reporting unit with an income approach using the discounted cash flow (“DCF”) analysis and we also considered a market-based valuation methodology using comparable public company trading values. Determining fair value requires the exercise of significant judgments, including the amount and timing of expected future cash flows, long-term growth rates, the discount rate and relevant comparable public company earnings multiples. The cash flows employed in the DCF analysis are based on our best estimate of future sales, earnings and cash flows after considering factors such as general market conditions and recent operating performance. The discount rate utilized in the DCF analysis is based on the reporting unit’s weighted-average cost of

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capital, which takes into account the relative weights of each component of capital structure (equity and debt) and represents the expected cost of new capital, adjusted as appropriate to consider the risk inherent in future cash flows of our reporting unit. 

Impairment assessment inherently involves management judgments regarding a number of assumptions described above. The reporting unit fair value also depends on the future strength of the U.S. economy. New and developing competition as well as technological change could also adversely affect future fair value estimates. Due to the many variables inherent in the estimation of a reporting unit’s fair value and the relative size of our recorded goodwill, differences in assumptions could have a material effect on the estimated fair values. 

For information related to the goodwill impairment recorded during the year ended December 31, 2019, see Note 6 (Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Indefinite-Lived Intangible Asset. In connection with our acquisition by TEGNA, we recorded an intangible asset with an indefinite life associated with the Cars.com trade name. The indefinite-lived intangible asset is tested annually, or more often if circumstances dictate, for impairment and is written down to fair value as required. The estimate of fair value is determined using the “relief from royalty” methodology, which is a variation of the income approach. The discount rate assumption is based on an assessment of the risk inherent in the projected future cash flows generated by the trade name intangible asset.

For information related to the intangible asset impairment recorded during the year ended December 31, 2019, see Note 6 (Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets) to the accompanying Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Definite Lived Amortizable Intangible Assets. Our amortizable intangible assets consist mainly of customer relationships and acquired software. These asset values are amortized systematically over their estimated useful lives. An impairment test of these assets would be triggered if the undiscounted cash flows from the related asset group (business unit) were to be less than the asset carrying value. Changes in circumstances, such as technological advances or changes to our business model or capital strategy, could result in actual useful lives differing from our estimates. If an impairment indicator is present, we review our amortizable intangible assets for potential impairment at the asset group level by comparing the carrying value of such assets with the expected undiscounted cash flows to be generated by the asset group.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements. For information related to recent accounting pronouncements, see Note 3 (Recent Accounting Pronouncements) to the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8., “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.  

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk. Market risk represents the risk of loss that may affect our financial position due to adverse changes in financial market prices and rates. We are exposed to market risks related to changes in interest rates and foreign currency exchange risk.

Interest Rate Risk. The interest rate on borrowings under our Term Loan and Revolving Loan is floating and, therefore, subject to fluctuations. In order to manage the risk associated with changes in interest rates on our borrowing under the Term Loan, we entered into an interest rate swap (the “Swap”) effective December 31, 2018. As a result, 53.7% of our interest rates are fixed as of December 31, 2019. Under the terms of the Swap, we are locked into a fixed rate of interest of 2.96% plus an applicable margin, as defined in the Credit Agreement, on a notional amount of $300 million. As of December 31, 2019, the fair value of the Swap was an unrealized loss of $10.2 million. The Swap is designated as a cash flow hedge of interest rate risk and recorded at fair value in Other accrued liabilities and Other noncurrent liabilities on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Any gains or losses on the Swap will be reported as a component of Accumulated other comprehensive loss until reclassed to Interest expense, net in the same period the hedge transaction impacts earnings. Based on the value of our unhedged indebtedness at December 31, 2019, a 100 basis point increase in interest rates would result in a corresponding increase in our interest expense of $6.5 million annually.

Foreign Currency Exchange Risk. Historically, as our operations and sales have been primarily in the United States, we have not faced any significant foreign currency risk. With the acquisitions of DealerRater in August 2016 and Dealer Inspire in February 2018, we acquired a limited number of Canadian dealer customers, some of which are billed in Canadian dollars. Any foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations have been and are anticipated to be immaterial. If we plan for additional international expansion, our risks associated with fluctuation in currency rates will become greater, and we will continue to reassess our approach to managing this risk.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Cars.com Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets of Cars.com Inc. (the Company) as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, the related Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income, Comprehensive (Loss) Income, Stockholders’ Equity and Cash Flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2019, and the related notes and financial statement schedule listed in the index at Item 15(a) (2) (collectively referred to as the “Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements”). In our opinion, the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at December 31, 2019 and 2018, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2019, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) and our report dated February 26, 2020 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures include examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the Consolidated Financial Statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

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We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2016.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

Chicago, Illinois

February 26, 2020

31

Cars.com Inc.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

(In thousands, except per share data)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements.

32

Cars.com Inc.

Consolidated and Combined Statements of (Loss) Income

(In thousands, except per share data)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements.

33

Cars.com Inc.

Consolidated and Combined Statements of Comprehensive (Loss) Income

(In thousands)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these Consolidated and Combined Financial Statements.

34

Cars.com Inc.

Consolidated and Combined Statements of Stockholders’ Equity

(In thousands)