Digital Property Group to run Globrix

The Digital Property Group is to seize control of the management of Globrix following the acquisition of a 50% stake in the portal by TDPG’s parent company, Associated Northcliffe Digital.

The deal boosts TDPG’s unique visitor traffic to 2.5 million, which compares with Rightmove’s 2.9 million visitors, strengthening TDPG’s position as the second most popular property portal in the UK based on comScore statistics.

It comes just two months after Globrix management, including chief executive Daniel Lee, undertook a management buy-out of the business, ending its partnership with News International.

Speaking exclusively to The Negotiator Online, Mark Milner, chief executive officer of TDPG, insists that Globrix will remain as a free-to-list portal. He adds: “It’s a great brand, which I think enables us to reach out to a new audience.” He claims that just 12% of TDPG’s current audience already uses Globrix.

The news comes as The London Evening Standard’s property supplement, Homes & Property, launches its own portal, Homesandproperty.co.uk. It is offering agents free listings for a limited period and thereafter a choice of a monthly subscription of around £100 or a pay-per-lead deal, with email leads expected to cost around £2.50. The launch means that the brand will no longer be part of TDPG’s offering.

Milner insists that there will no change to TDPG’s current rate card to reflect either change.

Lee will step down as chief executive of Globrix to run a software enterprise in which AND has also invested, but will remain an investor in Globrix.

Separately, as The Negotiator exclusively revealed on Monday, Countywide has launched its own property portal to market stock from its 1,200 branches. Propertywide.co.uk comes 10 years after the group founded Rightmove with Halifax and Connells.

Countrywide denies that the site, which is in phase one, is being positioned as the next Rightmove and insists that existing  external portal deals remain.

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