Move, Inc. a leader in online real estate, today announced the acquisition of Relocation.com, an online marketplace that connects home buyers and renters with moving and storage professionals. Combining the acquisition with Move’s existing Moving.com business, the company significantly strengthens its offering, according to a company release.
The company reports that the deal represents another step toward Move’s strategic goal of creating a one-stop destination for the industry’s most comprehensive and accurate real estate listings, as well as adjacent services like moving and storage that make the real estate process easier and more convenient for consumers. The acquisition also bolsters Move’s focus on the residential rental market, which in the U.S. is expected to add five to six million households in the next decade, according to the Washington D.C.-based Bipartisan Policy Center.
“Our goal is to create the leading online marketplace for real estate related information and services,” said Steve Berkowitz, Move’s chief executive officer. “Bringing Relocation.com under the Move umbrella and merging it with our Moving.com business extends our value to consumers by increasing the resources and tools at their disposal. At the same time, it extends our value to the industry by giving the 40 million Americans who move each year more reasons to engage with us.”
Relocation.com is a premier online resource for consumers preparing to move to a new home or apartment. The service works with pre-screened and licensed moving, auto transport and storage companies from across the country – and internationally – in order to reduce the stress consumers often feel about the relocation process. Adding Relocation.com’s scale and reach to Moving.com’s recognized best-in-class quality practices creates a powerful offering in moving services.
The purchase price of the acquisition was $11.5 million in cash, of which $9.5 million was paid upon the deal close, with the remainder to be paid in two equal amounts on the first and second anniversaries of the close. The financial impact of the transaction will be reflected in Move’s fourth quarter 2012 financial statements. Management expects the acquisition to begin to contribute to revenue and EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2012 and to be accretive to 2013 earnings. The acquisition will be discussed during the company’s third quarter earnings call on November 5, 2012.
For more information visit http://www.move.com/trends/move-acquires-relocation-com/.
