Move.com

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Move.com
Type Public
Founded N/A
Headquarters Flag of the United States Westlake Village, California
Key people Joe F. Hanauer, Chairman
Mike Long, CEO
Industry Internet services
Products Realtor.com, WelcomeWagon.com, Top Producer, Move.com, SeniorHousing.net, and Moving.com
Revenue ▲$252.62 Million USD (2005)
Net income ▲$0.55 Million USD (2005)
Employees 1,800 (2006)
Website www.move.com

Move.com (NASDAQ: MOVE) is a real estate web site, parent company Move, Inc., which also operates Realtor.com. Move provides search tools for rentals and new homes, in addition to operating several subsidiaries.

Contents

[edit] History

The company began by working with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to host and manage the listings of [Realtors] nationwide in the mid-1990's [1]. At the time, the company operated as RealSelect, Inc, [2] although the company became better known as Homestore. In 1999 Homestore went public, and immediately became the #1 real estate site on the Internet, and raised $140 million. NAR retained a significant equity position Homestore negotiated agreements with hundreds of MLSs and brokerages to secure direct feeds of listings and found itself in a head-to-head competition for listings and traffic with Microsoft’s HomeAdvisor.

In November 2005, Elevation Partners, a Bay Area Equity Firm, announced a $100 Million investment in Homestore [3].

In February 2006 Homestore changed its name to Move Inc. to coincide with an expanded commitment to offering consumers comprehensive real estate listings, decision support tools, and access to qualified move-related service providers.

[edit] Features

The re-branded company has three consumer offerings: Realtor.com, Move and Welcome Wagon. The company also acquired Moving.com, a provider of consumer moving tools and access to qualified moving services.

[edit] Criticism and Controversy

Much of the past criticisms of the company centered around the actions of the management team during the rise of the Dot.com bubble. In particular, the founder and former CEO, Stuart Wolff, was convicted of insider trading and falsifying the company books. [4]. Wolff's conviction was overturned on appeal in 2008. [5].

W. Michael Long, former CEO of Healtheon Corp. and chairman of WebMD Inc. after its merger with Healtheon took over as CEO on January 7, 2002. He was joined by two other former Healtheon and WebMD executives: Jack D. Dennison, chief operating officer, and Lewis R. Belote III, chief financial officer. Joe F. Hanauer, former head of Coldwell Banker’s Residential Group, was named chairman of Homestore’s board of directors.

[edit] References

[edit] Company and Subsidiary Links