Zillow Acquires StreetEasy for $50 Million
Zillow Inc operator of the US’s largest real-estate website, have acquired StreetEasy for $50 million
in cash to expand its coverage of the New York market. StreetEasy has about 1.2 million monthly unique users, primarily residential real-estate shoppers in the New York region.
Facing increased competition from Trulia Inc. and other real-estate listings providers amid a U.S. housing-market recovery, Zillow has been making acquisitions to maintain growth. Chief Executive Officer Spencer Rascoff said purchasing StreetEasy can help Zillow rapidly expand its presence in the largest U.S. market and use its sales team to bolster advertising and subscription revenue faster than StreetEasy could as an independent company.
The StreetEasy purchase “opens the door to potentially lead the New York City market,” said James Cakmak, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group in New York. “But they’re paying $50 million dollars for about 1 million users, and that’s a little expensive.” The acquisition will allow Zillow to expand into the rentals market, and the company will likely use the stock offering to help pay for it, said Cakmak.
Is it value for money to pay $50 million for a company that has just over 1 million users. Let us at Acquaint know what you think.
