Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is the latest big-brand organisation to move into online property, with plans to acquire the US website giant Move for $950 million.
Move operates a network of US property sale, rental and services websites including Move.com, realtor.com, Moving.com, Newhomesource.com and SeniorHousingNet.com. Most of these involves sales and rentals but some include historic price and sales data.
Together they claim 20 million visitors monthly and ComScore, an internat consultancy, says consumers spend more than 410 million minutes a month on Move's websites.
News Corp's initiative will hold an 80 per cent stake in the business, with REA Group Limited - majority-owned by News Corp and already operating an Australian residential property website - will hold the other 20 per cent.
In excess of five million homes are bought and sold in the US each year. Estate agents and brokers are expected to spend approximately $14 billion this year on marketing homes, with a further US $11 billion to be spent by mortgage providers.
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, Robert Thomson, News Corporation's chief executive, said in a statement.
We intend to use our media platforms and compelling content to turbocharge traffic growth and create the most successful real estate website in the US he says. That is interpreted to mean that exchanges of databases and cross-referencing will go on between Move websites and other News Corp outlets, such as the Wall Street Journal.
This would be the equivalent of, for example, News Corp's purchase of a major UK property portal or website and cross-referencing it with the Sun and/or The Times in a bid to maximise reach and impact.
News Corp's move in the UK comes two months after Zillow, America's giant online real-estate listings service, announced it was buying the rival Trulia service for $3.5 billion.
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He screwed up Friends Reunited - could have been Facebook. Penny wise, pound foolish.