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News Corp Agrees to Acquire Opcity
LOUISIANA REALTORS • August 29, 2018
Market-leading tech platform will enhance realtor.com®
and lead generation offerings to benefit real estate professionals and consumers
New York, NY – Aug. 29, 2018
– News Corp today announced that its subsidiary Move, Inc., operator of realtor.com®, has entered into an agreement to acquire Opcity, the market-leading real estate technology platform that matches qualified home buyers and sellers with real estate professionals in real time.
The planned acquisition of Opcity, based in Austin, Texas, will broaden realtor.com®’s lead generation product portfolio, allowing real estate professionals to choose between traditional lead products that offer professionals the opportunity to work leads themselves or a concierge-based model that provides highly vetted, transaction-ready leads, which is the expertise Opcity brings to realtor.com®.
“Through product innovation and powerful media platforms, News Corp is increasing its presence and capabilities in the burgeoning digital real estate services market,” said Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp. “We are absolutely focused on providing high-quality services to real estate professionals and to consumers seeking to make an investment that is profoundly important to every family.”
“Consumers and agents use realtor.com® for one primary purpose – to buy or sell a home,” said Ryan O’Hara, CEO of Move, Inc. “This acquisition will help us bring buyers, sellers and agents together with as much simplicity, efficiency and choice as possible. The addition of Opcity to our portfolio will align with our strategy to enhance the experience of consumers, while providing our industry partners with more opportunities to connect with clients and grow their businesses.”
Opcity leverages proprietary data sets, applied analytics and machine learning to more effectively capture online leads and instantly connect transaction-ready clients with the right agents. Utilizing a broker-centric model, Opcity has grown its U.S. client base to over 5,000 brokerages and more than 40,000 agents since 2015. Its customers include a number of franchised brands, such as Better Homes & Gardens, Keller Williams, ReMax, Century 21, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services and leading independent brokerage companies.
“This is a natural fit. Both realtor.com® and Opcity share a common purpose of simplifying a consumer’s home buying journey, while helping real estate professionals connect and close more transactions,” said Ben Rubenstein, CEO of Opcity. “Together, we’ll provide an enhanced consumer experience and more choices for brokers and their agents to grow their business.”
O’Hara added, “Both response time and matching a consumer with the right agent results in a great consumer experience and ultimately increases the likelihood of a closed transaction. By pairing personalized outreach with cutting-edge technology, Opcity has built a best-in-class platform that delivers close rates three to five times the industry average. That’s why Opcity has been so widely embraced by real estate agents and brokers and that is why it’s a perfect fit for what we believe is the best digital real estate platform in America, realtor.com®.”
About News Corp
CONTACT US
News Corp (Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) is a global, diversified media and information services company focused on creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content. The company comprises businesses across a range of media, including: news and information services, book publishing, digital real estate services, and subscription video services in Australia. Headquartered in New York, News Corp operates primarily in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom, and its content is distributed and consumed worldwide. More information is available at: http://www.newscorp.com.
About Move, Inc.
Move, Inc. provides access to unsurpassed real estate information, tools and professional expertise across a family of websites and mobile experiences for consumers and real estate professionals through all stages of the home journey. It has a perpetual license to operate realtor.com® from the National Association of REALTORS®.
The Move network includes realtor.com®, The Home of Home Search℠, as well as Doorsteps®, Moving.com™ and SeniorHousingNet℠. Realtor.com® pioneered the world of digital real estate 20 years ago, and today helps make all things home simple, efficient and enjoyable. Move also offers a complete solution of software products and services to help real estate professionals serve their clients and grow their business in a digital world, including ListHub™, the nation’s leading listings syndicator and centralized intelligence platform for the real estate industry; Top Producer® Systems; FiveStreet℠ and Reesio as well as many free services. For more information, visit realtor.com®.
About Opcity Inc.
Based in Austin, Texas, Opcity is modernizing the real estate industry by matching top real estate professionals with transaction-ready home buyers and sellers in real-time. Using proprietary data sets and applied analytics, Opcity’s unique technology and matching algorithm turn online inquiries into transactions, drive increases in conversion, and provide real estate professionals with centralized insights to effectively manage their pipelines. Opcity’s growth has been fueled by investment from Silicon Valley-based Icon Ventures, with participation from artificial intelligence-focused Georgian Partners, and Texas-based LiveOak Venture Partners. For more information, visit http://www.Opcity.com.
As previewed last week, NAR is pleased to share the latest consumer guide focused on preparing for homeownership. This guide covers what prospective buyers should consider as they kick off the home purchase process, including the importance of credit scores, mortgage pre-approval, down payments, budgeting, and educational resources. As a reminder, all guides in this series are available for download—in both English and Spanish—on facts.realtor . Please allow a few days for the Spanish version of the latest resource to be translated and uploaded. For ease of reference, below is a list of the most recent guides: NEW: Preparing for Homeownership Escrow and Earnest Money Pricing Your Home Preparing to Sell Your Home Fire Damage and Policy Coverage Thank you for your continued engagement with the “Consumer Guide” series and for sharing the resources with potential clients to ensure they have the information they need to be successful in their homebuying or selling journey. Remember that these guides are for informational purposes only and are not meant to enact or change any existing NAR policy. Be on the lookout for next week’s guide on Wednesday, which will cover property taxes.
As previewed last week, NAR is pleased to share the latest consumer guide focused on escrow. This guide covers what homebuyers should know about earnest money deposits, including the general terms and use cases in real estate transactions. As a reminder, all guides in this series are available for download—in both English and Spanish—on facts.realtor . Please allow a few days for the Spanish version of the latest resource to be translated and uploaded. For ease of reference, below is a list of the most recent guides: NEW: Escrow and Earnest Money Pricing Your Home Preparing to Sell Your Home Fire Damage and Policy Coverage Flood Insurance Thank you for your continued engagement with the “Consumer Guide” series and for sharing the resources with prospective clients to ensure they have the information they need to find success in their homebuying or selling journey. Remember that these guides are for informational purposes only and are not meant to enact or change any existing NAR policy. Be on the lookout for next week’s guide on Wednesday, which will cover preparing prospective buyers for homeownership.
The Louisiana REALTORS® Board of Directors will conduct several elections this Spring. Interested candidates that meet the qualification who are looking to serve at either the state association level or the national association level are encouraged to view the criteria and submit an application. An application that is not submitted on the appropriate form or not submitted pursuant to the instructions shall not be considered as submitted timely.
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