News Corp Expands into Fast Growing Digital Real Estate Sector in India
November 24 2014 - 4:09PM
Business Wire
Acquires 25% Stake in Parent of Indian
Platform, PropTiger.com
News Corp announced today that it has acquired a 25% stake
in the parent company of PropTiger.com, a leading digital real
estate marketing platform in India, for US$30 million.
News Corp’s investment continues the acceleration of its global
digital footprint with an emphasis on India, where the company
also has a presence through its Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal and
HarperCollins Publishers businesses.
The investment creates a network effect to complement and build
on the strength of the company’s collection of businesses, which
include leaders in news, book publishing and digital real estate.
News Corp owns Move, Inc. (“Move”), operator of realtor.com®.
Move has the most up-to-date and accurate for-sale listings of any
digital real estate company in America. In addition, News Corp has
a 61.6% stake in REA Group Limited (“REA”), operator of the leading
Australian residential property website, realestate.com.au.
REA also has a substantial stake in iProperty, the leading digital
real estate advertising business across South East Asia.
PropTiger.com will benefit from News Corp’s digital and product
expertise, drawing on its experience with REA and Move.
"India has more than 270 million Internet users and the number
is growing exponentially. 1 There is no doubt that the development
of digital is empowering individuals and transforming industries,
and we are extremely enthusiastic about the potential for
PropTiger.com as the country fulfills its digital destiny," said
Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp. "PropTiger.com will
provide analysis, information and insight so that Indians will
be better informed when they make the most significant investment
decision any family will make, buying a home. We believe the site
will be the most important platform for developers seeking to
market new properties and the most trusted and reliable source for
purchasers, many of whom will be buying for the first time."
At least 10,000 properties, with a combined value of over US$1
billion, have already been bought by Indian homebuyers through
PropTiger.com. It is estimated that India will be a US$158 billion
residential real estate market by 2020.2
News Corp’s investment is in Elara Technologies Pte Ltd
(“Elara”), which owns PropTiger.com. PropTiger.com was founded in
2011 by Dhruv Agarwala, Kartik Varma and Prashan Agarwal. Among its
other investors are Accel Partners, SAIF Partners and Horizen
Ventures. As part of the investment, Raju Narisetti, News Corp
Senior Vice President, Strategy, will also join Elara’s
Singapore-based board.
“News Corp and PropTiger.com have a shared vision to use
technology, high quality data and rich content to bring
transparency and simplicity to the home buying experience and to
help consumers make well informed decisions,” said Dhruv Agarwala,
co-founder of PropTiger.com.
About News Corp
News Corp (NASDAQ:NWS) (NASDAQ:NWSA) (ASX:NWS) (ASX:NWSLV) is a
global, diversified media and information services company focused
on creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content to
consumers throughout the world. The company comprises businesses
across a range of media, including: news and information services,
book publishing, cable network programming in Australia, digital
real estate services, digital education, and pay-TV distribution in
Australia. Headquartered in New York, the activities of News Corp
are conducted primarily in the United States, Australia, and the
United Kingdom. More information: http://www.newscorp.com.
About PropTiger.com
PropTiger.com leverages the power of technology and data to make
the home buying experience rewarding and easy-to-use. It guides
customers through the entire process of buying a home, including
search, property identification, price negotiation, documentation,
home loan facilitation and post sales services.
PropTiger.com has also pioneered multiple technology and data
driven innovations in the Indian market such as Property Portfolio,
Livability and Safety Scores, Resale Price Estimates and detailed
Micro-Market Trends and Analyses. Recently, PropTiger.com launched
its Data Labs services for institutions, such as real estate
developers, private equity investors and banks, in order to help
them make better decisions using the enormous real estate data and
customer insights PropTiger.com collects daily.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains certain “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. These statements are based on management’s views and
assumptions regarding future events and business performance as of
the time the statements are made. Actual results may differ
materially from these expectations due to changes in global
economic, business, competitive market and regulatory and other
factors. More detailed information about these and other factors
that could affect future results is contained in News Corp’s
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The
“forward-looking statements” included in this document are made
only as of the date of this document and we do not have any
obligation to publicly update any “forward-looking statements” to
reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by
law.
1 Internet and Mobile Association of India
2 Venture Intelligence/The Wall Street Journal, August 2014
News CorpJim Kennedy, 212-416-4064Chief Communications
Officerjkennedy@newscorp.com@jimkennedy250orMike Florin,
212-416-3363SVP, Head of Investor Relationsmflorin@newscorp.com
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