Zillow (ZG -1.84%) announced today that it will acquire New York City-focused real estate website StreetEasy for $50 million in cash.
According to the company, around 1.2 million unique users head to StreetEasy.com every month to research real estate in the Big Apple. "StreetEasy is an excellent strategic fit with Zillow, as we share a common goal: To help consumers become smarter about real estate by communicating comprehensive, unbiased information about apartments and homes," said Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff in a statement. "StreetEasy is an incredibly strong and recognized brand in New York City, and complements Zillow's dominant and growing national brand."
The website has been around since 2006 and has established partnerships with the biggest real estate brokerages in the city. Co-founder and CEO Michael Smith is looking forward to his company's newest alliance: "We're very excited to be joining forces with Zillow ... as we continue our commitment to data integrity, innovation and collaboration with the local real estate community."
Subject to customary closing conditions, Zillow expects to seal the deal within the next few weeks.
Zillow also announced today a public offering of 2.5 million shares. Certain shareholders are offering an additional 2.5 million shares. The company won't receive any proceeds from the selling stockholders. Zillow plans to give the underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 753,522 shares.
-- Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
