Friday 14 November 2008

Rightmove in takeover talks?

The EAT comments on rumours of a bid for Rightmove.

A quick look at the share movements indicates significant share movement with someone buying up shares in Rightmove. There was certainly a lot of activity yesterday with the share price going down to a low level whereupon someone made their move. Tremblant Partners LP appear to have increased their position recently and may have further increased this yesterday and I think these are the Americans to whom the EAT refer?

Not really my field of expertise and I know I have some analysts on board so a comment or two from them would be extremely helpful. This is a five day graph for Rightmove shares in any event.



The real question for this blog however is what will they do if they do move on Rightmove? Rightmove is crying out for a change of financial model and if they did change the subscription based model it would have a dramatic effect on the entire marketplace.

Much has been said about Rightmove and they will continue to generate column inches. As a business, it needs to respond to its market and such a response can only be, in my humble opinion, a radical change in its financial model and one that favours the agent. A half hearted response will only bandage the problem, not fix it.

My note to potential new owners is very simply, change the financial model, fast track to web 2.0, embrace innovation and overnight there would be a seismic shift in the landscape.

So I guess the question is, if new owners are lining up, have they got the balls?

PS. The Blog is still for sale at £5 million and yes I would take the CEO position if offered.

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