News Corp. is in talks to move Move Inc., the digital real estate firm behind Realtor.com, to commercial property services conglomerate CoStar Group in a deal valued at $3 billion, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The deal comes a day after NewsCorp. nixed a proposed merger with Fox.
Citing anonymous sources, Bloomberg reported that a sale could be finalized within days, though it was more likely to be completed within weeks, according to a CNBC report.
“Any potential transaction would support News Corp’s strategy to optimize the value of its Digital Real Estate Services segment, while strengthening Realtor.com’s competitive position in the market,” News Corp. said in a filing, adding there “was no assurance a transaction would result from the talks and it wouldn’t comment further on the matter,” CNBC reported.
Move was acquired by News Corp. almost a decade ago in a $950 million transaction in which 20% of the company became co-owned by Australia-based online real estate firm REA Group Ltd.
Fox reported late Tuesday that its board received a letter from chairman Rupert Murdoch and his son (and Fox CEO) Lachlan Murdoch waving off a proposed merger of Fox and News Corp as they “determined that a combination is not optimal for the shareholders.”
CoStar’s Realtor.com and sister sites, including Apartments.com and with a market value of about $32 billion, provide information and marketing services to the commercial-property industry.
