Open House? Google Has Also Been Eying Trulia in Real Estate Search Play.
Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.
According to sources close to the situation, along with its pending bid for Yelp, Google has been in on-again, off-again acquisition talks with Trulia, the real estate search engine.
It is unclear what price Google (GOOG) would pay, but sources estimate that Trulia’s valuation ranges between $150 million and $200 million, although there could be a big premium on that.
Rumors about Google’s interest in the real estate search market–and specifically in Trulia–have been rebounding around Silicon Valley for the last year.
But Google has pulled the trigger on a number of acquisitions of innovative start-ups recently and, sources said, will continue to do so.
Trulia–which is based in San Francisco and allows people to search for a range of data about homes for sale in particular zip codes or cities nationwide–is one of the more obvious candidates for the search giant’s local and mobile efforts.
Its business and that of its competitors–which is largely based on advertising and lead generation–has been growing quickly, despite the economic downturn in housing.
More interestingly, Trulia is deeply integrated into Google Maps, an arena the company recently targeted for growth with a series of announcements about new search features.
Trulia has raised about $33 million since 2005, with investors that include high-profile Silicon Valley venture firms Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital.
Interestingly, Accel and Sequoia recently made bank when Google bought AdMob for $750 million.
Trulia’s clearest competitor is the larger Zillow, located in the Seattle area. But, sources said, Google is more interested in Trulia, given its location in the Bay area and lower valuation.
Zillow has raised about $87 million from Benchmark Capital, Technology Crossover Ventures, PAR Capital Management and Legg Mason.
Redfin, another Seattle-based rival, has raised about $31 million from its own well-known collection of VCs.
This week, Google’s interest in Yelp, the local review site, also became public, in a deal that could cost upward of $600 million.
It is all part of a buying spree that Google has engaged in of late, with six acquisitions costing $1 billion so far.
Comments
Interesting – Home.co.uk has been aligning itself closly with Google here in the UK.
Posted by ModernEstateAgent at December 19th, 2009 at 5:52 pmI think movoto.com would be a better buy for Google. It's smaller in terms of traffic, but has grown much faster with much less capital.
Posted by raiyani at December 19th, 2009 at 9:27 pm“According to sources close to the situation”
I'm sorry to question your integrity and I mean no disrespect, but are we really supposed to believe a rumor just because you published it? Name your source, provide a link or it didn't happen.
Posted by Pies at December 20th, 2009 at 11:56 pmNo, you don't have to believe me. But you might want to look at my record of accuracy about these kinds of sourced stories. It's pretty good.
Posted by Kara Swisher at December 21st, 2009 at 10:19 amFair enough, I suppose I could do that, though I don't think it's reasonable to expect your readers to do this with every journalist or blogger they encounter. My feeling is that most people would rely on WSJ's reputation — assuming they know what WSJ is.
I guess old media has its own rules.
Posted by Pies at December 21st, 2009 at 10:30 amOf course not. But most people know this site's and the Journal's record of accuracy and fairness. But point taken.
Posted by Kara Swisher at December 21st, 2009 at 10:34 amWow, I didn't know these clowns were still around… had a couple phone screens with them last fall, never heard anything back, emailed the recruiter which bounced back, so I just assumed they went under. Even in talking to them on the phone, they really didn't sound like they had their act together. Surprised GOOG is even talking to a second or third-tier player in the market.
Posted by mds404 at December 24th, 2009 at 1:53 amGoogle is not interested in Trulia for home searches. Google is buying up companies that provide reviews, Q&A, opinions, professional advice. IF this story is true….They want Trulia's Q&A section.
Search is changing and instead of just providing links, Google needs to start providing peer-to-peer information.
They do not have anything community based.
I was using Google Goggles on my phone and was not impressed, because all Google did was provide links based on the image searches, what I wanted to do was take a picture of something and get reviews or what my friends think of that item…
Posted by mattdunlap at December 28th, 2009 at 5:53 amI really have a difficult time understanding why Google would even want to buy into the real estate market at all? I understand they are shooting for total internet domination, but it seems to me that they are beginning to spread themselves a little thin at this point.
There is no denying that Trulia has a strong online presence, the website itself receives a lot of traffic and has served the R.E. community well. With that said, how does it benefit Google's larger picture? Are they just setting out to buy up all of the larger online companies? Doesn't seem to be a very targeted goal.
If that is the case, then what next, an online real estate school or maybe an artist community. I have been in business for a long time and would never buy another company or opportunity unless it somehow contributes to what I already have.
Posted by jesse at December 31st, 2009 at 2:06 amOh dear oh dear. Every day I surf the world wide web and google is always up to something. if they are not thinking of getting rid of page rank then they are trying to buy out other applications. One day I get the feeling it will all come crashing down, or are they now that big that they really can claim world domination?
Posted by Altinkum at January 14th, 2010 at 11:57 amIf Google continues its trend to buy all the important websites, they could be soon holding a monopol over information via the internet. I don't see that as a positive thing because such a powerful tool in the wrong hands could lead to “nasty” things.
Posted by HouseMaster at January 26th, 2010 at 10:01 am___________________________________
Tucson Homes
This doesnt surprise me at all, the search game is changing rapidly. Instead of just providing links, they are upping the relevancy of their results with other content based services.
Posted by britton321 at February 4th, 2010 at 2:51 pmGoogle is beginning to get on my nerves. Why are they after world dommination, they are trying to get a finger in every pie and it is going to come back and bite them. They are already in trouble with the chinese
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Posted by gidwarez at April 27th, 2010 at 11:15 amIt seems only natural to me that the biggest search engine on the internet would try to expand and enlarge it's services. The real estate market is a very good way to do just that. There are a lot of money going into real estate and I am sure they will find ways to get some of them turning in their direction.
Posted by GallagherEli at May 8th, 2010 at 6:44 am____________
Real estate Austin TX agent
This is good information to work out with trulia.Actually i am looking to add this to my real estate website built on solution php script, however currently trulia supports importing my listings only but they do not provide their database of listings.What will be appropriate option.
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Posted by ferrorolvans at June 8th, 2010 at 10:42 amGoogle seems to want to cover more than our search results.
Posted by Anonymous at August 24th, 2010 at 8:03 amFabulous article. Thank you so much!
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