CHINA TOPIX

03/28/2024 12:08:28 pm

Make CT Your Homepage

Zillow Buys Trulia in $3.5 Billion Deal

Pete Flint, co-founder and chief executive of Trulia

(Photo : REUTERS/Stephen Lam) Pete Flint, co-founder and chief executive of Trulia, speaks at the Reuters Global Technology Summit in San Francisco, June 17, 2013.

Two top-traffic real estate websites that have been competing for nine years will now merge to create what could be the biggest online real-estate listing worldwide. 

Insider reports reveal that Zillow and Trulia will soon combine after Zillow agreed to buy Trulia for $3.5 billion in stocks. The deal stipulates that Zillow will have to pay US$70.53 for every Trulia share.  

Like Us on Facebook

Zillow's CEO Spencer Rascoff said in an interview that he has nothing but respect for the company. "The companies know each other very well," he said.

ComScore recently released data that in June, Zillow had a total of 83 million users and Trulia had 54 million. The combined numbers of the two suggest a total of 61 percent of all Internet users visiting their sites.

Mike Kelly of First Team Real Estate in Anaheim Hills, said that prior to the establishments of websites like Zillow, real-estate hunters would have to visit their offices to inquire about what was on the market.

Now, their company would just receive calls from interested buyers who wanted to check out the houses that they found online.

Rascoff came up with the acquisition offer to Trulia six weeks ago, although Trulia was not up for sale at the time.

"Both companies are coming at this from a lot of strength and momentum," Rascoff said. he added that Trulia was very objective about the offer when the terms were laid out.

Pete Flint, management head of Trulia, agreed to the negotiations but stipulated that it should be an "all-stock deal," to benefit their shareholders.

Some of the terms of the deal say that Trulia shareholders will own nearly a third of the combined company. Flint will remain as a management head who will be reporting to Rascoff, and other Trulia directors will join Zillow's board.

Until the seal is finalized and closes in 2015, the two websites will continue to compete.

When the stock market closed on Monday, Zillow's stocks were at US$160.32 per share, and Trulia's closed at $65.04. 

Real Time Analytics