News Corp has agreed to acquire Move, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOVE) “a leading online real estate business that brings consumers and Realtors® together to facilitate the sale and rental of real estate in the United States.”
“The Move Network of websites, which also includes Move.com, reaches approximately 35 million people per month, who spend an average of 22 minutes each on its sites1.
REA Group Limited (“REA”), which is 61.6% owned by News Corp and is the operator of the leading Australian residential property website, realestate.com.au, plans to hold a 20% stake in Move with 80% held by News Corp.
REA’s operations and investments include leading online real estate websites in Italy; casa.it and Luxembourg; atHome.lu
In Asia: MyFun.com In Hong Kong: asquarefoot.com.hk and recently acquired a 17.22% stake in iProperty, the leading online real estate advertising business across South East Asia.
Through realtor.com® and its mobile applications, Move displays more than 98% of all for-sale properties listed in the US, sourced directly from relationships with more than 800 Multiple Listing Services (“MLS”) across the country. As a result, Move has the most up-to-date and accurate for-sale listings of any online real estate company in America.
Under the acquisition agreement, which has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of Move, News Corp will acquire all the outstanding shares of Move for $21 per share, or approximately $950 million (net of Move’s existing cash balance), via an all-cash tender offer.
This represents a premium of 37% over Move’s closing stock price on September 29, 2014.
REA’s share will be acquired for approximately US$200 million.
For the year ended December 31, 2013, Move reported $227 million in revenues, and $29 million in adjusted EBITDA5, and generated the highest revenue per unique user in the industry.
Move will become an operating business of News Corp and remain headquartered in San Jose, California. The company, started in 1993, has 913 employees.