This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
Nine’s Domain is in the takeover crosshairs of US property giant CoStar, which has launched a $2.7 billion bid for the major property listings portal and news company.
Domain’s share price surged by around 40% on the back of the news, from its previous close price of $3.12 to hit $4.36 late on Friday. Shares in Nina leapt by 20% to $1.735.
Nasdaq-listed CoStar took on a 16.9% stake in Domain before making the non-binding indicative offer to the board. CoStar’s proposed all-cash offer of $4.20 per share – the price at which it acquired the chunk of Domain shares – would be adjusted for any dividends declared or paid by Domain prior to completion of any deal, other than the 2.0c dividend Domain recently announced with its first half results.
Nine has a 60% stake in Domain. It said in an ASX statement, “Domain is of strategic importance to Nine’s media ecosystem and our long-term growth strategy. Nine will consider the proposal with a focus on the best interests of Nine shareholders.”
The Domain board said it has commenced an assessment of the CoStar proposal.
CoStar owns and operates residential and commercial marketplaces in the United States, and provides data to investors and the real estate industry. In 2023 it acquired UK portal OnTheMarket for $198 million, and set to buy Californian 3D spatial mapping company Matterport for $2.5 billion.
Domain this month reported a 7.4% uplift in first half revenue to $217.2 million and 13.8% increase in EBITDA to $77.8 million. Earnings per share was up 28.3% to 5.2c.
It said it outpaced the growth of much bigger rival REA Group for site visits in the first half of FY25, and that its audience is “meaningfully more likely to buy”.
REA Group is owned by Nine’s rival News Corp.
Domain has been investing in a “technology transformation” which it says will allow it to grow revenue through faster product launches, efficient and effective pricing changes, new features and greater flexibility in promotions and bundling, and deliver cost savings through improved productivity from automation and integration, increased sales and service efficiency, and elimination of manual processes.
In January it announced a new marketplaces division.
