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News Story

Bombshell as Propertyfinder may be forced to close

Friday 29th May 2009

Propertyfinder, the first of the UK property portals and the third most visited, could face shock closure after an announcement yesterday to the Australian stock market. A management buy-out is also on the cards.

The REA Group, which co-owns Propertyfinder with News International, publishers of The Times, said it will be conducting a review of its UK operations.

REA and News International are both part of News Corp, Rupert Murdoch’s global conglomerate. They bought Propertyfinder in 2005 for about £13m.

However, since then, the Murdoch empire has appeared far more interested in its investment in the free portal Globrix.

Nick Leeming, major client director of Propertyfinder and original co-founder, said this morning: "The announcement to the Australian stock exchange was an official requirement. REA, News Corp andourselves have been looking at a range of options concerning the future of Propertyfinder.

"These include closure, investment, a management buy-out or a sale."

Asked if News Corp, which publishes The Times, had lost interest in Propertyfinder in favour of Globrix, Leeming said: "I have asked them that question, but I didn't get an answer."

Rival Alex Chesterman, chief executive of pay-per-lead portal Zoopla, said he was not surprised at developments: “The business of online property marketing is changing rapidly and the subscription-based models such as Propertyfinder do not align the interests of the portal and the agent customers in the same way as performance-based models.

“We are likely to see more consolidation or closures in the market as more and more agents shift their marketing spend away from subscription portals to models where they can track, measure and ultimately only pay for the results they get.”

The announcement about Propertyfinder comes after the recent closure of Propertyfinder’s print magazines, and amid rumours of an attempted sale of Propertyfinder to its main rivals, Rightmove, and the Daily Mail which publishes four portals including FindaProperty and Primelocation.

Propertyfinder was founded in 1995 by Nick Leeming and his brother, James. It not only pioneered the market but, when known as Asserta, for a while led it even after Rightmove made its entry. The gap between Rightmove and its other subscription-based rivals has since progressively widened.

Propertyfinder has also chewed through a number of chief executives over the years. Gillian Kent is the current incumbent. It has also changed its name: the original Propertyfinder site was bought by the then giant Asserta, which for a time traded the two names before dropping Asserta to trade as a single entity, Propertyfinder.

Propertyfinder still rates consistently as number three in the most successful UK property portals, behind Rightmove and the Daily Mail group’s combined four sites.

Propertyfinder bought Hot Property two years ago for £5.6m but there have been some suggestions that Hot Property agents were not well integrated into the Propertyfinder site.

It is also understood that property searches on The Times which were powered by Propertyfinder are now powered by Globrix.

The REA Group, whose financial year ends on June 30, will now be under pressure to announce its business plan regarding Propertyfinder.

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Posted By Word of Justice on Monday 29th June 2009 16:36:41

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Fact is, propertyfinder.com is a brand, and a brand that is far too well known to just simply fade away.

Rather than worry about who will fall down next I think portals should be worrying about who will be taking propertyfinder.com over, any new investor for a company such as propertyfinder.com can only mean the further strengthening of influence in the market place.

Using terms like going bust is a clear sign of ignorance, the facts and figures speak for themselves, propertyfinder.com continues to grow, be that in a business review or not.

Definitely watch their space.

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Posted By Mr Brightmove on Saturday 30th May 2009 10:47:54

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The Propertyfinder brand is too well known to drop. At the same time if there were a management buyout or if it were sold to a rival, this could be a direct rival to Globrix. An interesting situation and the property world will wait and see what happens with interest.

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Posted By wobly on Friday 29th May 2009 15:42:28

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come on now RM is teh most overpriced portal i ever known..tsk

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Posted By propertyfinder supporter on Friday 29th May 2009 15:39:47

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right move is noise diving far too expensive

above all no one trusts a company run by estate agents ?

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Posted By Brian on Friday 29th May 2009 14:50:47

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Can't read? Where does it say the end of rightmove? It says the end of propertyfinder. rightmove makes money and gets stronger.

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Posted By we LUV property finder on Friday 29th May 2009 14:28:59

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up yours right move

and zoopla poo poo

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Posted By Sad on Friday 29th May 2009 14:22:38

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Rightmove sucks

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Posted By StokeFire on Friday 29th May 2009 12:25:09

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I like Rightmove

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Posted By The truth on Friday 29th May 2009 11:19:51

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It's a little sad that opportunists are suggesting an end to sites like PF when ultimately, PF have significantly more traffic than Zoopla - a huge gap in terms of consumer traction that shows no signs of changing. Zoopla can shout about their model but that doesnt matter a jot to home searchers!!

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Posted By Real on Friday 29th May 2009 11:13:05

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Propertyfinder gone! Rightmove next? It proves the point - stop giving these people your hard earned money and they will go bust - happy days!

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Posted By Vossy on Friday 29th May 2009 09:44:48

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Its a shame when issues overseas (Propertyfinder is owned by an Australian company) forces the possible closure of a good product. The only shame is it isnt RM going to the wall!

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Posted By Trevor Mealham INEA.co.uk on Friday 29th May 2009 09:42:17

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The most important things are property and agents. Without the two portals couldn't have content. The worlds a changing place, in hard times people seek new ways to do things and look at their costings and needs. Estate Agency in 18 months - 2 years will be a very different model than 2 years ago. Everything changes including the portals.

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Editorial Contact Details - Rosalind Renshaw | rosalind.renshaw@estateagenttoday.co.uk | 01252 843 566.