News Corp Splashes Out £14 Million On Property Site
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has announced the purchase of Asserta Holdings, owner of UK property portal Propertyfinder.com, for £14.3 million.
The purchase gives News Corp a sizeable stake of the online property market, with the ten year old site currently used by over 2,000 estate agents and visited by around 700,000 house hunters each month.
The purchase of propertyfinder.com was made in partnership with Realestate.com.au, an Australian property website owned by News Limited, a subsidiary of News Corp in Australia.
News Corp has expanded its online portfolio rapidly in recent months, purchasing online gaming firm IGN earlier this year to securing access to around 28 million male internet users through sites covering video games, films, music, sports, cars and girls (see Online Purchase Gives Murdoch Male Audience).
The media giant clearly hopes to dominate special interest areas online, and reportedly has plans to make propertyfinder.com the premier online destination for the UK property market.
The purchase will see propertyfinder.com benefit from Realestate.com.au’s superior technologies and sales techniques. The Australian site will be given overall control of propertyfinder’s day to day running, while a separate board will oversee its strategic development.
News International: 020 7782 3922 www.newscorp.co.uk