In January, News Corp announced that it was looking to sell its stake in US real estate listings site Move to commercial real estate information and analytics company, CoStar. Whilst initial reports suggested that the deal could be worth over US$3 billion ($4.3 billion), News Corp has now confirmed that the deal is off.
In a statement on Tuesday, the company revealed that it is “no longer engaged in discussions with CoStar Group, Inc. regarding a potential sale of Move, Inc.”
“News Corp will continue to actively assess opportunities to support the Company’s strategy to optimize the value of its Digital Real Estate Services segment and otherwise maximize shareholder value,” the statement adds.
News Corp currently owns 80% of Move – the parent company of realtor.com – with the other 20% being owned by REA Group.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that CoStar chief executive Andrew Florance confirmed the news on an investor call, saying that “We still have a lot of work to do here, but we have a clear road map and have our heads down focused on building the best residential real estate portal in the United States.”
The news comes a month after potential plans to merge Fox and News Corp were called off, after the companies were initially split in 2013. The merger would have been worth $US28 billion ($40 billion).
See Also: Fox-News Corp merger scrapped as Murdoch looks to sell real estate asset
On January 25, the company released a statement pulling the pin on the deal, saying that “in withdrawing the proposal, Mr. Murdoch indicated that he and Lachlan Murdoch have determined that a combination is not optimal for shareholders of News Corp and Fox at this time.
“As a result of this action, the special committee of the board of directors of News Corp has been dissolved. The board would like to express its appreciation for the special committee’s efforts on this matter.”