Good morning. Conducting a turnaround and pivoting toward growth needs to be grounded in strategy, according to Carvana’s CFO Mark Jenkins.
Based in Tempe, Arizona, Carvana is an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars. The company landed at No. 314 on the Fortune 500 this year, up 63 spots from 2024. Carvana was founded in 2012 by Ernest Garcia (CEO), Ryan Keeton (chief brand officer), and Ben Huston (COO), and went public in 2017. Jenkins, a former finance professor at Wharton who first met Garcia while earning his doctorate at Stanford University, joined the company in 2014.
Carvana debuted on the Fortune 500 at No. 483 in 2021 and jumped to No. 290 in 2022, reflecting rapid growth. “In 2022, when interest rates rose and financial markets became very rocky, we took on some additional debt to fund an acquisition,” Jenkins explained. That raised bankruptcy concerns, causing the stock to plunge 99% from its peak of $370.10. Carvana responded by restructuring its debt, reducing near-term interest payments, and extending maturities to stabilize its finances.
As a result, the company launched a three-step strategic plan that took them from 2022 to 2024, beginning with a focus on profitability and shifting toward expanding market share and sustaining growth. In Q4 2024, Carvana earned a record net income of $159 million, a turnaround from a loss of $200 million in Q4 2023. For the full year 2024, the company reported record net income of $404 million, and record adjusted EBITDA of $1.378 billion.
