Cazoo went public via a $7B SPAC, then reverse-split its stock twice before delisting

Cazoo, the UK online used-car retailer founded by Alex Chesterman in 2018, merged with the blank-check company Ajax Capital Acquisitions Corp and began trading on the NYSE in August 2021. The deal valued Cazoo at $7 billion — more than double its last private funding round — and raised $1.6 billion in cash, split between Ajax's trust account and an $800 million private placement led by D1 Capital Partners. Cazoo used the proceeds to keep building UK car-prep centres and delivery fleets and to buy European rivals, chasing a multi-country retail footprint.

The stock fell almost continuously after listing. By January 2023, Cazoo had lost more than 97% of its market value and Chesterman stepped down as CEO. Facing a NYSE minimum share-price rule, the company carried out a 1-for-20 reverse stock split in February 2023, when shares were trading at 24 cents, and a second, 1-for-100 reverse split that December. In between, it exited all continental European retail operations in September 2022, cutting 750 jobs, and closed 15 of its 22 UK showrooms by March 2023.

In March 2024, Cazoo stopped buying and selling cars altogether, closed its remaining showrooms, cut 728 more jobs, and repositioned itself as a listings marketplace connecting dealers with buyers rather than trading cars itself. Two months later, on 21 May 2024, the company appointed administrators from Teneo, putting roughly 200 remaining jobs at risk; the NYSE notified Cazoo the same day that it would begin delisting proceedings, and its shares were formally removed on 3 June 2024. The Cazoo brand and marketplace were sold to MOTORS in June 2024.

Two reverse splits (1-for-20, then 1-for-100) kept the NYSE listing alive but not the cash burn, so it exited Europe, closed showrooms, and delisted.

The SPAC cash was sized for continued expansion, not a downturn — Cazoo kept building prep centres, fleets and European acquisitions assuming growth capital would stay available.

Retail used-car sales need heavy working capital per vehicle; scaling across the UK and continental Europe multiplied that need faster than the business could generate cash.

Two reverse stock splits in one year fixed the exchange's minimum-price rule but not the losses driving the price down, and the business kept shrinking under them.

A SPAC valuation and its cash raise are a bet on continued access to capital, not proof a business can fund its own growth. When that access closes, the underlying cash burn is still there.

Cazoo entered administration on 21 May 2024 and was delisted from the NYSE on 3 June 2024. MOTORS acquired the Cazoo brand and marketplace the same month, relaunching it as a used-car search and listings product rather than a retailer.