Domain pursuer CoStar acquires Homes.com.au

Original article by Zoe Samios
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 4-Jun-25

Sources have indicated that US-based CoStar has struck a deal to acquire the Homes.com.au domain name for $22.8m. CoStar, which is seeking to buy property listings group Domain Holdings for $3bn, already owns the Homes.com domain in the US and has spent more than $US1bn on a marketing campaign for the brand. Its deal to acquire Homes.com.au could indicate that CoStar will consider rebranding Domain if shareholders approve the deal in August. CoStar’s founder and CEO Andy Florance says that acquiring the Homes.com.au domain will give his company a range of options regarding how it positions itself in the Australian market.

CORPORATES
COSTAR GROUP INCORPORATED, HOMES.COM.AU, DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, HOMES.COM

Catalano and Waislitz take fight to Seek in regional Australia

Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 7-Feb-24

Australian Community Media’s owners Antony Catalano and Alex Waislitz will launch a new job listings website in partnership with SpotJobs’ co-founder Lewis Romano. ViewJobs is slated to be launched in early March, and will focus on job vacancies in regional areas. Romano says most of the existing sites do not necessarily cater to the requirements of regional and rural employers; he notes that there has been five per cent growth in regional job advertisements in recent months, while job ads in metropolitan areas have fallen by 10 per cent. ACM will use its portfolio of regional newspapers to promote ViewJobs, which is jointly owned by Catalano and Romano.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA PTY LTD, SPOTJOBS PTY LTD, VIEWJOBS

Domain portal a business in trouble with declining market share, Catalano says

Original article by Cameron England
The Australian – Page: 17 : 15-Nov-23

Anthony Catalano’s View Media Group operates the view.com.au real estate listings business. Catalano sees Domain as View Media’s main rival, rather than REA Group’s realestate.com.au portal. He says the real estate sector is clearly moving towards a ‘one-portal market’ in the same way that employment and car sales are now largely dominated by one portal. Catalano adds that instead of trying to compete with REA, View Media is aiming to ‘own a consumer’ across different products, such as mortgages and insurance. He also believes that View Media poses a very serious threat to Domain; he is a former CEO of Domain.

CORPORATES
VIEW MEDIA GROUP PTY LTD, VIEW.COM.AU, DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, REALESTATE.COM.AU

Nine’s Domain caught in cyber scam

Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 3 : 21-May-21

Online real estate portal Domain has increased its security controls in the wake of a cyber-attack. CEO Jason Pellegrino has informed Domain users that their personal information may have been stolen in the phishing attack, which targeted people who inquired about rental properties that had been advertised on Domain. Nine Entertainment Company, which has a 60 per cent stake in Domain, has confirmed that the cyber attack is not related one which disrupted its own operations in March

CORPORATES
DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

ACCC approves eBay car ads deal

Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 15 : 1-May-20

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has approved eBay’s purchase of Cox Automotive Media Solutions, which owns the Carsguide and Autotrader websites. The transaction, which was announced in December, will see eBay combine its Gumtree Australia operations with those of Cox Automotive Media. The ACCC noted that Carsales and Facebook Marketplace both provide significant competition to the Gumtree and Cox Media businesses.

CORPORATES
EBAY AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND PTY LTD, EBAY INCORPORATED, CARSGUIDE, AUTOTRADER, COX AUTOMOTIVE MEDIA SOLUTIONS, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, GUMTREE.COM AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Cat strikes back at weak Domain

Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 24 & 26 : 3-Feb-20

Australian Community Newspapers’ owners Antony Catalano and Alex Waislitz have paid about $10m for a 33 per cent stake in Realestateview.com.au. Catalano will join the board of the unlisted classified advertising group. Realestateview.com.au CEO Toby Balazs notes that combining its property listings with ACN’s portfolio of regional newspapers means it will have a digital audience of 5.4 million. Catalano expects the new venture to be a serious rival to Domain, although he concedes that Realstate.com.au is likely to remain the leading player in the sector.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA, REALESTATEVIEW.COM.AU LIMITED, DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, REALESTATE.COM.AU, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

REA boss Wilson pins growth hopes on Asia

Original article by John Durie
The Australian – Page: 15 : 19-Dec-18

REA Group’s incoming CEO Owen Wilson says that continuing to provide value to customers and consumers will be his priority. Wilson also wants to expand the property listings group’s Asian operations, which currently account for about eight per cent of group revenue. Wilson will succeed Tracey Fellows, who will remain on REA’s board after becoming president of News Corporation’s Global Digital Real Estate business. News Corp has a controlling stake in REA.

CORPORATES
REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, REALESTATE.COM.AU, DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Domain eyes summer of sport boost

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 21-Nov-18

Property listings group Domain Holdings will have a significant marketing presence on Australian TV during the 2018-19 summer. Domain will be the naming rights sponsor of cricket, which will be broadcast by the Seven Network for the first time. Domain is also expected to be marketed heavily on the Nine Network following the merger between Nine Entertainment Company and Fairfax Media, which is Domain’s largest shareholder. CEO Jason Pellegrino is confident that Domain can increase its reach outside its core markets of Sydney and Melbourne.

CORPORATES
DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, CRICKET AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS

Fellows moves house to global News Corp role

Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 21 : 16-Nov-18

REA Group is seeking a new CEO after Tracey Fellows resigned to become president of News Corporation’s digital real estate business. Fellows, who will be based in New York in her new role, has been CEO of REA since August 2014. Shares in REA have gained around 62 per cent during her tenure, and the real estate listings group recently posted strong growth in earnings and revenue for the first quarter of 2018-19. Fellows will remain on the board of REA, in which News Corp has a controlling stake.

CORPORATES
REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, REALESTATE.COM.AU, IPROPERTY GROUP LIMITED, HOMETRACK, SMARTLINE HOME LOANS PTY LTD, MOVE INCORPORATED, DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, AUSTRALIA POST, MICROSOFT CORPORATION, DELL TECHNOLOGIES INCORPORATED, IBM CORPORATION

Domain sees considerable upside to proposed Fairfax-Nine merger

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 14-Aug-18

Domain Holdings’ executive chairman Nick Falloon says the merger between Nine Entertainment Company and Fairfax Media will help to grow Domain’s business. Falloon is also the chairman of Fairfax, which owns 60 per cent of Domain. He notes that both Domain and Nine have lots of useful data that when combined would be of benefit to both businesses. The property listings company has a posted a statutory net loss of $6.2m for 2017-18, while revenue was 11.5 per cent higher at $357.3m.

CORPORATES
DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, MARTIN CURRIE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED