News Corp will strengthen its global and digital presence with the acquisition of Move Inc.
News Corp and Move, Inc. have announced that News Corp has agreed to purchase Move, Inc. is a specialist in online real estate business that brings consumers and realtors together and to facilitate sale or rental properties in the United States.
Move displays more than 98% of all for-sale properties listed in the US through realtor.com® and its mobile applications. These properties are directly from relationships with more than 800 Multiple Listing Services. Through this method Move has the most up-to-date and legit listings of any online real estate company in in the US. The Move Network reaches about 35 million people per month.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of Move. News Corp is set to acquire all the outstanding shares of Move for $21 per share, or approximately $950 million through an all-cash tender offer. News Corp also plans to create a tender offer for all of the shares of common stock of Move within 10 business days. Afterwards this will be followed by a merger to acquire any untendered shares.
Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp mentioned in an interview “This acquisition will accelerate News Corp’s digital and global expansion and contribute to the transformation of our company, making online real estate a powerful pillar of our portfolio.” He added “We intend to use our media platforms and compelling content to turbo-charge traffic growth and create the most successful real estate website in the US. We are building on our existing real estate expertise and expect to leverage the potential of Move and its valuable connections with Realtors® and consumers around the country.”
Mr. Thompson also added in an exclusive interview “In addition to boosting Move’s subscription, advertising and software services, this acquisition will give News Corp a significant marketing platform for our media assets, which will benefit from the high-quality geographic data generated by real estate searches.” He also commented “We certainly expect this deal to amount to far more than the sum of the parts.”
On the other hand, Steve Berkowitz, Chief Executive Officer of Move explained in an interview “News Corp’s acquisition of Move speaks powerfully to the quality and value of our content, audience and industry relationships.” Mr. Berkowitz added “We provide people with the information, tools and professional expertise they need to make the best and most informed real estate decisions, and we work to uphold the indispensable role of the professional in the real estate experience. News Corp shares our vision, which is one of the many reasons this combination is such good news for our customers, consumers and the industry as a whole.”
For the year ended December 31, 2013, Move reported $227 million in revenues, and $29 million in adjusted EBITDA5. The company has also generated the highest revenue per unique user in the industry. Move will become an operating business of News Corp but will continue to be headquartered in San Jose, California.
“We have great faith in America’s potential and the long-term asset value of housing, which is continuing its recovery and has yet to regain its full potency,” said Mr. Thomson. “It is forecast that the number of Millennial households will increase from 13.3 million in 2013 to 21.6 million in 2018, and they will spend more than $2 trillion on home purchases and rent by 20187. Many will begin their search online and use tools and content on realtor.com®. Buying a home is the most important investment decision any family will make.”
News Corp acquisition of Move, Inc. is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and a minimum tender of at least a majority of the outstanding Move shares. It is expected to close by the end of calendar year 2014.
A.L. Mijares
About News Corp
News Corporation is an American multinational mass media company, formed as a spin-off of the former News Corporation focusing on newspapers and publishing. It is one of two companies which succeeded the former News Corp, together with, which consists of the old News Corporation’s broadcasting and media. New Corp stock market evolution: http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/nws
About Robert Thompson
Robert James Thomson Dellor is an Australian journalist and the Chief Executive of News Corp, a role he assumed in January 2013. He is the former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal and is former editor of The Times newspaper in London. On 20 May 2008 News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch named Thomson as the paper’s new managing editor, succeeding Marcus Brauchli.
About Move Inc.
Move, Inc. is a real estate web site, which operates the Move Network of real estate web sites for consumers and real estate professionals. The Move Network of web sites captures more than 15 million monthly visitors. The Move, Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, California. Move, Inc. It maintains offices in Scottsdale, Arizona, Westlake Village, California and Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. Move, Inc stock market evolution: http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/move
About Steve Berkowitz
Steven Berkowitz is the CEO of Move, Inc. After serving on the board of directors of Move, Inc. for nearly a year Steve was selected by the board to succeed Michael Long to serve as the company’s CEO. He has a Bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York.
