News Corp. To Acquire Move For About $950 Mln Via All-cash Tender Offer

(RTTNews) - News Corp. (NWS, NWSA) has agreed to acquire Move, Inc. (MOVE), an online real estate business that brings consumers and Realtors together to facilitate the sale and rental of real estate in the U.S. REA Group Ltd., which is 61.6% owned by News Corp. and is the operator of the leading Australian residential property website, realestate.com.au, intends to hold a 20% interest in Move with 80% held by News Corp.

According to the acquisition agreement, News Corp would purchase all outstanding shares of Move for $21 a share, or nearly $950 million, through an all-cash tender offer. This represents a premium of 37% over Move's closing stock price on September 29, 2014. REA's share would be purchased for about $200 million. News Corp. plans to begin a tender offer for all common shares of Move within 10 business days, followed by a merger to acquire any untendered shares.

Move, through realtor.com and its mobile applications, displays over 98% of all for-sale properties listed in the U.S., directly sourced from relationships with more than 800 Multiple Listing Services country-wide. Therefore, Move has the most up-to-date and accurate for-sale listings of any online real estate company in America. The Move Network of websites, including Move.com, reaches nearly 35 million people per month, who spend an average of 22 minutes each on its sites.

Move owns ListHub, a digital platform that aggregates and syndicates MLS data to more than 130 online publishers, reaching around 900 websites. Move would become an operating business of News Corp and remain headquartered in San Jose, California.