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Doug DeMuro Strikes Gold as Cars & Bids Auction Site Gets Quirky $37M Cash Injection

Doug DeMuro started like many others from our generation – on YouTube, reviewing cars. But slowly, his ambition drove him to create a successful car auction site.
Doug DeMuro 6 photos
Photo: Drew Martin, courtesy of Cars & Bids
Doug DeMuroDoug DeMuro's Previous Mercedes E63 AMG WagonDoug DeMuro's Previous Mercedes E63 AMG WagonDoug DeMuro's New, 2022 Mercedes-Benz E 450 All-TerrainDoug DeMuro's New, 2022 Mercedes-Benz E 450 All-Terrain
And the move, as stressful as it might’ve been in the beginning, seems to have paid off. Because the YouTuber has just received quite a cash flow for his auction site. The 34-year-old car reviewer got a $37 million cash infusion from The Chernin Group (TCG), a leading investment firm, to help grow his online marketplace.

He can now add "entrepreneur" to his resume, thanks to the new investment to help his business grow. While his YouTube channel remains his main activity, in 2020, he decided to start another business: a car auction site.

He partnered with Blake Machado and created Cars & Bids, a platform for "cool modern cars, trucks, and SUVs," mainly from between 1980 and 2010, but which also includes quite a few new ones and even EVs. Since its launch, Cars & Bids has sold over $230 million worth of cars. The first one sold? Doug DeMuro’s own car, a 2012 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG station wagon which you can check in our gallery.

About three and a half years ago, it hit me that I wanted to do something with my audience that was less beholden to the YouTube algorithm,” Doug told Forbes regarding his new business venture. “You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow or the next day, but I have a big audience and I really needed to create a business where I control the revenue streams, as opposed to YouTube being able to turn them on or off at any given time.”

The website was immediately successful, but it meant Doug had to split his time between his YouTube channel and the new business. Enter TCG, the investment firm will now help with all of that.

According to the new deal, TCG will have a majority stake in the new company and will combine DeMuro's YouTube business with his car auction site, which will give the car reviewer more time to actually review cars. It will also place Ro Choy, who is a business transformation expert, as CEO of the new company.

DeMuro is a famous name in the car industry, thanks to his very popular YouTube channel. There, he offers reviews on a wide variety of cars. He started his channel in 2013, and it was more of a personal ownership blog where he discussed the cars he owned, the first one being a red Ferrari 360, followed by an Aston Martin, a Hummer, and a Viper. After a few years, he switched to reviewing special-interest cars and other vehicles.

He initially wanted to buy his "absolute dream car," which is a Porsche Carrera GT with the money he got from the deal. But he had to be responsible and realistic, so he went for a used 2022 Mercedes-Benz E 450 All-Terrain. And it's "not even an AMG," he added to Robb Report.
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About the author: Monica Coman
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Imagine a Wenn diagram for cars and celebrities. At the intersection you'll find Monica, putting her passion for these fields and English-Spanish double major to work. She's been doing for the past seven years, most recently at autoevolution.
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