News Corp has agreed to acquire real estate listing website Move for $950m, to ‘accelerate its digital and global expansion’.
Move’s website, Realtor.com, lists for-sale and rental properties in the US and is claimed to cover 98% of for-sale properties in the country.
According to News Corp, Move gets around 35 million visitors per month, who spend an average of 22 minutes on its website. Approximately 60% of traffic for Move website comes from mobile devices.
Australia-based real estate website and a subsidiary of News Corp, REA Group will hold a 20% stake in Move and the rest 80% will be owned by the parent company.
News Corp CEO Robert Thomson said: "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.
"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.
"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."
Reports suggest that News Corp has been trying to venture beyond newspaper business which includes The Wall Street Journal and The Sun, due to a decline in advertising and subscription revenue.
