Murdoch's News Corp snaps up US online real-estate group Move

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has agreed to buy Move, a US property website business, for US$950 million in a bet on the recovery in the world's biggest housing market.

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News Corp will buy 80 per cent of the realtor.com owner's shares, and REA Group, which is controlled by News Corp, will buy the remaining 20 per cent. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:15pm, 1 Oct 2014Updated: 2:58am, 2 Oct 2014

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has agreed to buy Move, a US property website business, for US$950 million in a bet on the recovery in the world's biggest housing market.

News Corp will buy 80 per cent of the realtor.com owner's shares, and REA Group, an Australian property site controlled by News Corp, will buy the remaining 20 per cent.

The companies will pay US$21 a share in cash, 37 per cent more than Move's closing price on Monday. The US$950 million price tag is net of Move's cash in the bank and gives News Corp a new source of advertising revenue in a tough market for traditional media advertising.

Robert Thomson, the former editor of who runs News Corp, said advertising Move's websites in his company's publications such as and would increase revenues for the online estate agent. News Corp's publications would also get a new marketing source and be able to use data that Move collects from property searches, he added.

"Literally every page, and that is half a billion pages every month, is a marketing opportunity for Move and we fully intend to exploit that opportunity. When somebody is looking for a house in Westchester ... that person is a potential or subscriber."

Murdoch has been on the lookout for acquisitions, though Move is far from the grand megadeal the mogul would have achieved if his US$80 billion bid for Time Warner had succeeded.