Zoopla reveals job cuts already made at Propertyfinder

Zoopla is putting on its thinking cap after buying Propertyfinder last week, hot on the heels of its purchase of Thinkproperty.

The company, launched only last year, will be using its acquisitions to try to challenge Rightmove’s domination of the property portal market.

The purchase price of Propertyfinder has not been revealed, but in view of the site’s yearly losses, it is unlikely to have been as much as the £13m that The Times, jointly with REA Group, bought it for.

It has been confirmed that Propertyfinder’s former chief executive Gillian Kent has left the business. A spokesman said: “We wish her the best for her future.”

The spokesman also said that the portals will not be amalgamated into one – yet.

He said: “In the immediate term, the brands and websites will exist side by side and operate separately. Over time, we will likely integrate the brands with increased marketing investment in order to offer the best value to agents.”

The business will operate from the Propertyfinder offices near Waterloo, London.

“The former owners had made a round of redundancies ahead of selling the group and all remaining employees will form part of our enlarged business,” said the spokesman.

Zoopla’s move leaves national newspapers looking decidedly disenchanted with property portals.

There is now only Globrix with The Times; the Digital Property Group’s portals with the Daily Mail – chiefly Primelocation and Findaproperty; plus a collection of property websites with the Daily Mirror – chiefly Smart New Homes, email4property, and Zoomf, which it bought out of receivership.

Rightmove’s lead appears unchallenged (see next story) and, since Globrix announced a pricing strategy (its basic listings are free but it charges for guaranteed traffic), Mouseprice and NFoPP’s Propertylive are the main ‘free’ offerings for agents.