Zoopla: Rightmove rival handed £500m price tag
Online property portal Zoopla has been put up for sale with an asking price of around £500m, it is understood.
The company, which was launched in 2008, has put on the market by Silver Lake Partners which has owned the group it forms a part of following a £1.6bn deal in 2018.
That group also includes the likes of Confused.com and Uswitch as well as Primelocation, Money.co.uk, Tempcover, Hometrack and Alto as well as Calcasa in the Netherlands.
Zoopla declined to comment when approached by CityAM.
US-headquartered Silver Lake Partners is a major shareholder in City Football Group, the company behind Premier League club Manchester City.
It has also invested in Co-op Live co-owner Oak View Group, New Zealand Rugby, the RAC and Waymo.
The news of Zoopla’s potential sale originates from an up-coming episode of the Home Front property podcast with Russell Quirk which has since been stood up independently by CityAM.
Zoopla returns to profit but jobs cut
In September 2024, CityAM reported how Zoopla had returned to profit in 2023 as its sales passed the £90m mark.
Accounts with Companies House revealed that the business swung to a pre-tax profit of £18.7m in 2023, having reported a pre-tax loss of £6.2m in the prior 12 months.
The results also showed that Zoopla’s revenue grew from £87.2m to £90.4m over the same period.
However, the accounts revealed that the average number of people employed by Zoopla in 2023 was cut from 483 to 388.
Earlier that month, CityAM also reported that Zoopla’s parent company, which also owns Confused.com and Uswitch, slashed its pre-tax loss by almost £600m in 2023.
The organisation reported a pre-tax loss of £134.9m for its latest financial year after posting a loss of £714.6m in 2022. The group’s revenue also surged from £391m to £451.5m over the same period.
During 2023 the group’s property division rebranded to Houseful.
It was originally founded in 2007 as Zoopla by Alex Chesterman and Simon Kain. Chesterman is also well known as the founder of Cazoo.
In February, Zoopla’s rival Rightmove reported a revenue of £389.4m for 2024, up from the £364.3m it posted for 2023.
The London-listed company also achieved a pre-tax profit of £258.4m, down slightly from £259.7m from 2023.