News Corp boss Robert Thomson backs REA to stay on top amid CoStar’s Domain bid
Thomson believes the company’s publishing assets will ensure REA maintains its edge, even if CoStar’s Andy Florance succeeds in his bid for Domain.
News Corp’s global CEO Robert Thomson is confident the company’s sprawling media assets will help REA Group maintain its dominance in Australia, even if CoStar succeeds in its $2.6 billion takeover bid for Domain.
Speaking at a Morgan Stanley conference on Tuesday morning Australian time, Thomson said CoStar CEO Andy Florance could invest heavily in marketing but would be unable to replicate the “networking” effect News Corp’s publishing assets provide at no extra cost.
“So to be able to drive traffic to realtor.com, from MarketWatch, to be able to drive traffic to REA in Australia, from news.com.au, that’s a huge advantage,” Thomson said in response to a question about how investors should assess REA’s value amid CoStar’s potential entry into the Australian market.
“So not only in a commercial sense, but in an editorial sense, you’re able to move traffic around aside. And Andy’s a great competitor himself, but that's not something he’s able to do. And so you can certainly spend a lot of money on marketing, but what we can do, really without spending money, is networking.”
