Brisco Has Plans for Investment Money at Carsdirect.com.BOB Brisco knows when to make an entrance. The new president and chief executive of Carsdirect.com in Culver City Culver City, city (1990 pop. 38,793), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1917. It is a center of the U.S. motion-picture industry, whose roots in the city date to c.1915. Its chief manufactures are rubber products and computers. came on board just as the online auto retailer announced raising $280 million in private financing six months after its official launch in May. The money is coming from prominent investment firms like Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., or simply Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is one of the world's largest global investment banks. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869, and is headquartered in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City at 85 Broad Street. and computer mogul Michael Dell's MSD (MicroSoft Diagnostics) A utility that accompanied Windows 3.1 and DOS 6 that reported on the internal configuration of the PC. A variety of information on disks, video, drivers, IRQs and port addresses was provided. Capital. To differentiate Carsdirect.com from the pack of other automotive sites like Autobytel.com and Microsoft's MSN (1) (MicroSoft Network) A family of Internet-based services from Microsoft, which includes a search engine, e-mail (Hotmail), instant messaging (Windows Live Messaging) and a general-purpose portal with news, information and shopping (MSN Directory). CarPoint, Brisco intends to use the investment capital to improve customer service and enhance brand presence. "We want to make this the best retail experience consumers have ever had," he said. The Carsdirect.com Web site allows customers to research, price, finance and purchase cars online. The company takes a cut from each sale and also through buyer options like leasing and insurance. Instead of trying to drive brick-and-mortar dealers out of business, Brisco plans to include more of them in the process by expanding the firm's domestic network of 1,700 dealer partners. "They get to build their business with our customers at a really no-cost way," he said. "There's plenty of room for everyone to be successful." However, Brisco believes e-commerce has raised the bar on the auto sales Auto Sales The major producers of domestic automobiles report sales monthly. These numbers are seasonally adjusted by the U.S. Department of Commerce and are available to the public one to five business days after the end of each month. industry by forcing dealers to improve service and limit haggling during sales. Brisco, 35, formerly served as president of Universal Studios Hollywood and Citywalk before taking his current job. He has also worked as senior vice president of advertising, marketing and new business development at the Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Morning daily newspaper. Established in 1881, it was purchased and incorporated in 1884 by Harrison Gray Otis (1837–1917) under The Times-Mirror Co. (the hyphen was later dropped from the name). . He will replace Scott Painter, who founded Carsdirect.com with the assistance of e-commerce incubator Idealab. Painter will now serve as vice chairman to chart new directions for the company, which has more than 500 employees. |
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