The ACCC has granted the online marketplace Gumtree unconditional authorisation to acquire Cox Australia Media Solutions, which will see Gumtree Cars take over the Carsguide and Autotrader sites, with the commission ultimately deciding that such a merger would not harm competition.

Carsales.com.au is currently the country’s leading provider of online automotive classified ads, and will continue to be the major competitor to the merged Gumtree Cars and Cox Media offerings. The ACCC noted that Facebook Marketplace is another growing competitor in the online car ads space.

“Our investigation showed that Carsales and Facebook Marketplace are likely to continue to provide significant competition in online automotive classifieds after Gumtree acquires Cox Media,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said. “We also found that Gumtree and Cox Media focus on different segments, with Gumtree focussing on private seller listings and Cox Media focussing on dealer listings.”

In addition, the ACCC noted that there are also a wide range of digital automotive content providers where advertisers could place car ads, such as Drive, Carsales, GoAuto and digital versions of automotive print publications, which also ensures that there will be solid competition in the space moving forwards.