florida type public traded as nyse an s & p 500 component industry car dealership founded 1996 ; 20 years ago 1996 founder h. wayne huizenga headquarters fort lauderdale florida united states key people mike jackson chairman ceo and president bill berman coo revenue us 20 862.0 million 2015 1 us 19 108.8 million 2014 2 us 17 517.6 million 2013 2 operating income us 873.1 million 2015 1 us 820.8 million 2014 2 us 740.3 million 2013 2 net income us 442.6 million 2015 1 us 418.7 million 2014 2 us 374.9 million 2013 2 total assets us 9 558.3 million 2015 1 us 8 399.7 million 2014 2 us 7 914.1 million 2013 2 total equity us 2 349.3 million 2015 1 us 2 072.1 million 2014 2 us 2 061.7 million 2013 2 website www.autonation.com autonation is the largest automotive retailer in the united states and is the leading provider of new and pre owned vehicles . 3 autonation owns and operates over 310 franchises throughout the united states . the current chairman ceo and president is mike jackson former ceo of mercedes benz north america . the chief operations officer is bill berman . it was founded in 1996 by entrepreneur h. wayne huizenga . 4 headquartered in fort lauderdale florida contents 1 company operations 1.1 revenue by product category 8 2 history 3 notes 4 further reading 5 external links company operations edit autonation operates over 293 franchises across the usa and has approximately 87 500 employees . it sells 35 different manufacturer brands nationwide across 15 states and is the leading automotive retailer by sales in the united states . 5 it is ranked 136 in the 2016 fortune 500 . 6 the company has a large internet presence offering its entire inventory for online searching . 7 revenue by product category 8 edit 57 % new vehicles 21 % retail used vehicles 15 % parts and service 4 % financing and insurance 1 % other history edit in 1981 republic industries was created specializing in waste disposal . h. wayne huizenga became chairman of the board in 1995 . 9 republic began its used auto sales initiative with the purchase of auto nation usa in 1997 10 followed by car choice inc. 11 republic began opening autonation used megastores . carmax brought a lawsuit against republic for copyright and trademark infringement . republic s sales for 1995 were 5.2 billion . 9 in 1996 republic began purchasing new car dealerships and offering long term contracts to owners who joined the automotive division management team . some dealers began seeking out republic to sell their dealerships because of the long term contracts . in 1996 republic built twelve autonation locations . 9 in 1996 alamo rent a car was acquired . 11 in 1997 republic continued acquisitions in the car rental business with the purchase of national car rental spirit rent a car value rent a car snappy car rental and eurodollar rent a car . huizenga had republic start consolidating operations between new and used cars and its rental companies into one operation . acquiring six saturn dealerships in arizona and florida republic sold the dealerships to saturn in 1997 because they did not generate enough sales despite being a successful brand . 9 maroone automotive group of buffalo ny and florida was acquired in 1997 for 200 million in republic stock . 10 a 2 for 1 split in the company stock was completed in 1996 the company will never go out of business at this rate . in an attempt to expand the company s electronic security division the company offered to purchase adt but the acquisition was called off . 9 in october 1997 republic sold off its electronic security division after failing to expand it with the attempted purchase of adt . republic industries offered in july 1998 an ipo of its original core waste disposal business as republic services . from this sale of 36 % of republic services republic industries netted 1.4 billion . while carmax had received a 50 million jury award in its lawsuit it was overturned during an appeal in 1998 . 9 drivers mart a competitor was purchased . 12 the remaining 64 % of republic services were spun off to republic industries shareholders in 1999 . 9 the company s first chief executive officer ceo was steve berrard who resigned from the company in july 1999 . 13 mike jackson ceo moved to spin off the car rental business as anc rental . autonation usa used car megastores which lost 25 million the quarter before were all closed down . plans to brand all auto dealers as autonation are scrapped and a regional brand focus is instituted . 10 in january 2003 jackson is named chairman of the board replacing huizenga . 10 on october 24 2005 the autonation building in downtown fort lauderdale suffered significant damage due to hurricane wilma . 14 the company has since transferred to another nearby building . in 2006 mike jackson ceo of autonation announced that his company would be reducing orders from general motors ford and chrysler in 2007 . jackson made the statement that the company will instead focus on selling bmw mercedes and lexus vehicles due to anticipation of further market share loss by us automakers resulting in high dealer inventories . 15 in 2009 autonation announced the autonation payment protection program promising that the dealership will buy back any car at market value should the owner lose their job . 16 in 2011 autonation was the first auto retailer in the u.s. to sell a total of 8 million vehicles . 17 in january 2013 autonation announced that it would completely replace localized brand names of its car retail operations with its own name . this re branding across the united states was supported and approved by the major automotive manufacturers including gm ford chrysler nissan toyota honda vw and hyundai . it involved a total of 210 franchises operating under previously assigned local group names . 18 in may 2013 autonation partnered with indy car series champion ryan hunter reay to support his racing for cancer charity . this charity serves as a key component of the autonation charity program . the charity was founded as a 501 c 3 charitable organization following the 2009 passing of the founder s mother due to colon cancer . in august 2013 autonation announced the sale of its 9 millionth vehicle . a record achievement for the industry . 19 in january 2015 autonation announced that mike jackson will take an expanded role while michael maroone retired after over 15 years as president . bill berman is the new chief operating officer as of february 4th 2015 . 20 in june 2015 autonation retailed its 10 millionth vehicle . 21 notes edit a b c d e autonation inc. 2015 annual report form 10 k xbrl . united states securities and exchange commission . february 11 2016 . a b c d e f g h i j autonation inc. 2013 annual report form 10 k xbrl . united states securities and exchange commission . february 13 2014 . white joseph b. one billion cars the wall street journal pp . r1 april 17 2006 . bradsher keith huizenga wants to dominate the market the new york times pp . d1 march 6 1997 . machan dyan . autonation s mike jackson steps on the gas . u.s. edition . barrons . fortune 500 autonation fortune accessed june 2014 . tucci christopher l. ; afuah allan 2001 . internet business models and strategies text and cases . mcgraw hill . p. 270 . isbn 0 07 239724 1 . u.s. securities and exchange commission filing . sec registration of corporations . november 16 2001 . a b c d e f g republic industries inc. company history . company profiles . fundinguniverse.com . retrieved 2009 11 03 . a b c d broder singer rochelle march 2003 . over drive autonation s founders set out to revolutionize the automotive retailing industry by sweeping up dealerships and creating a national brand . instead the industry changed autonation . in the end it took two car guys ceo chairman mike jackson and president coo mike maroone to rev up profits at the largest dealership group in the country cover story . south florida ceo . gale group . pp. 1 8 . retrieved 2013 07 17 . a b bagli charles v. november 8 1996 . in alamo deal republic puts more money on used cars . the new york times . new york ny new york times company . p. d1 . retrieved 2009 11 04 . evarts eric c. 2002 03 18 . dealers stay in driver s seat . christian science monitor . christian science monitor . retrieved 2009 11 04 . autonation chief executive agrees to step down the new york times july 1 1999 . hoag christina and danner patrick creatively coping with chaos south florida s hurricane worn companies are making do to keep going despite a lack of offices the miami herald october 27 2005 . mann joseph . balancing inventory . sun sentinhel . lago carlos . autonation unveils payment protection program . wot news . motortrend . kernen joe . autonation sells 8 million vehicles . cnbc video news . nbc news . hemlock doreen autonation to stamp dealerships with its brand name sun sentinel january 31st 2013 . brinkman paul south florida business journal wilson amy january 15 2015 . autonation mike maroone to retire . automotive news . hemlock doreen may 1 2015 . autonation 10 million sales . sun sentinel . retrieved 4 july 2015 . further reading edit flynn michael s. march 2001 . the economy competition and the retail automotive dealer pdf . final report . the university of michigan transportation research institute . retrieved 2006 11 28 . external links edit official website autonation e vehicles program bmw houston retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title autonation & oldid 739528229 categories companies listed on the new york stock exchangeretail companies established in 1996retail companies of the united statesauto dealerships of the united statescompanies based in fort lauderdale florida navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout 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