Genuine Parts Co. said Tuesday it plans to spin off its Motion industrial distribution business into a separate, publicly traded company, a move executives said followed a strategic review in 2025 and is meant to give the company’s automotive and industrial operations sharper focus and more control over investments.
“As we shared last September, throughout 2025, we conducted a strategic and operational review of the business with the objective to understand how best to unlock our full potential and maximize shareholder value,” said Will Stengel, chair-elect and chief executive officer, on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. “Following the detailed review, we have concluded that separating our Global Automotive and Global Industrial businesses is the best path forward for the company, our people, our customers, and our shareholders.”
Genuine Parts said it is targeting completion of the separation in 2027, subject to customary approvals. The company said it expects the transaction to be tax-free to shareholders and plans to provide additional details later on leadership, governance, and other separation matters.
“Today, we have two scale, market-leading companies with compelling but different growth strategies,” Stengel said. “This new business structure will enable each to capture the opportunities most effectively.”
Genuine Parts reported fourth-quarter sales of $6.01 billion, up 4.1% from $5.77 billion a year earlier.
Industrial sales — the part of the company anchored by Motion — were $2.20 billion, up 4.6% from $2.10 billion in the same quarter of 2024. North America automotive sales were $2.33 billion, up 2.4% from $2.27 billion. International automotive sales were $1.49 billion, up 6.4% from $1.40 billion.
The company reported a loss of $609.5 million for the quarter compared with a profit of $133.1 million. Genuine Parts said the quarterly loss was driven by a one-time, noncash pension charge tied to ending its U.S. pension plan, along with other unusual items.
Excluding those items, the company said profit was $216.0 million, down from $224.4 million a year earlier.
For the full year, Genuine Parts reported sales of $24.30 billion, up 3.5% from $23.49 billion in 2024.
The company reported full-year profit of $65.9 million, down from $904.1 million. Motion posted $8.92 billion in 2025 sales, with fourth-quarter growth of 4.6%.
Motion sits inside the company’s industrial segment and would form the core of the planned spinoff.
“Motion is a leading diversified industrial distributor serving over 180 end markets,” Stengel said. “Motion provides value-added solutions to keep manufacturing facilities operating and efficient.”
Genuine Parts reported industrial segment sales of $8.92 billion in 2025, up 2.3% from $8.72 billion in 2024. In the fourth quarter, the industrial segment’s sales rose 4.6% year over year.
Stengel said Motion’s industrial sales held up despite a weak manufacturing backdrop.
“We believe our Industrial business grew in excess of the market in 2025, despite a sluggish industrial and manufacturing economy, as evidenced by PMI being below 50 for the last ten months of the year,” he said.
Stengel also pointed to growth in online ordering. “Ecommerce had another strong growth year in 2025,” he said.
Executives said the separation should be less disruptive because the industrial and automotive businesses already run independently.
“The businesses already operate independently,” Stengel said. “There are no shared customer-facing roles, there are limited shared facilities.”
Still, he said some internal work remains. “There are a select number of IT, sourcing, and back-office support functions that we will manage and transition,” Stengel said, adding that early estimates of added costs from the separation are “manageable.”
What The Spinoff Means for Distributors
The move would create a standalone industrial distributor centered on Motion, a business Genuine Parts says competes through technical support, service and a mix of in-person and online selling.
For rival distributors, a standalone Motion could mean a more focused competitor with its own investment priorities and dealmaking strategy — and a faster pace of decision-making on tools that shape day-to-day competition, including online ordering and sales productivity.
Genuine Parts said it expects Motion to keep pursuing acquisitions after the split.
“Motion will continue to pursue strategic and bolt-on M&A,” Stengel said.
Genuine Parts said it expects total 2026 sales growth of 3% to 5.5%. For the industrial segment, it projected sales growth of 3% to 6%, with comparable sales also expected to rise 3%.
Chief financial officer Bert Nappier said the high end of the company’s forecast depends partly on a stronger industrial environment.
“Our opportunities to achieve the high end of our expectations center on improving market conditions in Europe and sustained PMI readings above 50 driving a tailwind in our Industrial business,” Nappier said.
He cautioned that “near-term market conditions remain mixed.”
If the company stays on schedule, Genuine Parts expects Motion to enter 2027 on track to become an independent public company — one that management says already has deep customer relationships, a growing online business, and an active acquisition pipeline.
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