• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, September 30, 2014

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is bolstering its real estate business with the acquisition of Move, an online platform that matches consumers and realtors for real estate sales and rentals across the U.S. When the deal is complete News Corp. will hold an 80% stake in Move, while REA Group Limited, a News Corp. subsidiary focused on real estate in Australia, will own the remaining 20%.

News Corp. will pay $950 million, representing a 37% premium over Move’s closing stock price on September 29. Last year, Move reported total revenues of $227 million and $29 million in pre-tax earnings.

Move owns the realtor.com and Move.com Web sites, as well as associated mobile applications, which together display over 98% of real-estate listings currently for sale in the U.S., drawn from partnerships with hundreds of “multiple listing services” across the country.

In addition, the company has an exclusive relationship with the National Association of Realtors and also operates ListHub, which aggregates and syndicates MLS data to over 130 online publishers operating around 900 Web sites. According to the company the Move Network of Web sites reaches 35 million people per month.

With this acquisition, News Corp. hopes to cash in on the projected $25 billion to be spent by real estate agents, brokers, and mortgage providers to market homes and mortgages in 2014 -- especially as more spending shifts online. News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson stated: “We intend to use our media platforms and compelling content to turbo-charge traffic growth and create the most successful real estate website in the US."

Move will benefit from increased reach through partnerships with News Corp. properties including the WSJ Digital Network and News America Marketing, as well as sales and marketing support to raise brand awareness and drive traffic to Move sites. Move will also gain access to News Corp. editorial content to boost engagement and interaction on its Web sites.