Zoopla
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as | LSE: ZPLA |
| Industry | Internet, real estate |
| Founded | January 2008 |
| Founder | Alex Chesterman Simon Kain |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
|
Key people
|
Mike Evans, Chairman Alex Chesterman, CEO |
| Services | Property search and research |
| Revenue | £64.5 million (2013)[1] |
| £28.0 million (2013)[1] | |
| £22.3 million (2013)[1] | |
| Owner | Daily Mail and General Trust |
| Website | www.zoopla.co.uk |
Zoopla (Zoopla PLC) is a British property website covering the residential property market, partially owned by Daily Mail and General Trust and estate agent Countrywide.[2][3][4] Zoopla focuses on providing users with access to information such as sold house prices, area trends & statistics and current value estimates for domestic properties in the UK. Zoopla is the second biggest property website in the UK, its larger rival is Rightmove[citation needed]. Zoopla PLC is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Operations[edit]
Zoopla is a searchable directory of UK residential properties using various sources like the Royal Mail's postcode database, the UK HM Land Registry's data on property transactions, Google maps, and other data sources.
Based on this data, Zoopla has developed an automated valuation model or algorithm that provides a computed valuation estimate for any property in the UK. This AVM is partly based on property attributes, transactions from the Land Registry[citation needed] and analysis of historical price trends. Zoopla also allows users to claim their home or set a TemptMe price, similar to US website Zillow. The accuracy of Zoopla's computed valuations is disputed.[5][6]
In July 2010, Zoopla released an iPhone app[citation needed].
History[edit]
The Group was founded in 2007 and the Zoopla website was launched in January 2008 by Alex Chesterman, who also founded ScreenSelect (later LoveFilm) and Simon Kain, LoveFilm CTO.[7] Since its inception, the Group has grown rapidly both organically and through a number of acquisitions. The groups websites offers a range of tools as well as listing homes on the market, such as searching for a new house by commute time.
The management team, headed up by former LoveFilm entrepreneur, Alex Chesterman, announced to the market (Feb 15), that mobile traffic now accounts for more than 60pc of monthly visits, up 42pc compared to the period of October to January 2013, and said that property browsers had now downloaded 5m Zoopla apps.
The Zoopla website had 1.6 million visitors in March 2010,[8] making it the second largest property website in the UK, behind market-leader Rightmove.
Website Zoopla reported a 14 percent annual increase in the number of monthly visitors scouring its listings to 42.3m between October 2014 and January 2015, with record traffic in January 2015 hitting 50.5m visits.
Zoopla have sponsored West Bromwich Albion Football Club since 2012.[9] In January 2014, founder Alex Chesterman, who is Jewish, decided to remove support or thee club after an allegedly anti-Semitic gesture from player Nicolas Anelka made headlines.[10]
Corporate Ownership[edit]
Zoopla is backed by Atlas Venture, Octopus Ventures and other investors.[11][12]
In July 2009, Zoopla acquired property website Thinkproperty.com from the Guardian Media Group.[13]
In August 2009, Zoopla acquired the PropertyFinder Group, consisting of the websites Propertyfinder.com, Hotproperty.co.uk and UK Property Shop, with combined annual revenues of £7M, from prior owners the REA Group and News International for an undisclosed sum.[14]
In October 2011 Zoopla and Digital Property Group, the subsidiary of A&N Media which operates property websites Primelocation.com, Globrix.com and FindaProperty.com, merged their respective businesses andin May 2012, Zoopla acquired property information website UpMyStreet.com.[15] and in June 2012 formed Zoopla Property Group Ltd.[16]
In December 2012, Zoopla acquired property information website Globrix.com.[17]
In Spring 2013, Stephen Morana, formerly of Betfair Group Plc, was appointed new Chief Financial Officer (CFO).[18]
Zoopla's owner, the Daily Mail and General Trust began to float Zoopla on the stock market in June 2014.[19]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c "Prospectus". Zoopla. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
- ^ https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/zoopla-ipo-decent-result-dmgt-000000696.html
- ^ http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/may/22/dmgt-float-zoopla-daily-mail-jobsite
- ^ http://www.fool.co.uk/investing/2014/05/29/3-reasons-why-rightmove-plc-could-be-the-next-internet-stock-to-crash
- ^ https://www.lovemoney.com/news/1804/whats-your-property-worth
- ^ http://old.estateagenttoday.co.uk/news_features/Online-valuation-tools-Are-they-help-or-hindrance
- ^ "About Zoopla!". Retrieved 2008-07-26.
- ^ Nielsen NetRatings, March 2010
- ^ "West Bromwich Albion". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ^ "Nicolas Anelka: West Brom sponsor Zoopla to end deal". BBC Sport. 20 January 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ^ "Our portfolio – Zoopla". Retrieved 2008-07-26.
- ^ "Business Digest". The Times (London). 2009-01-18. Retrieved 2009-01-18.
- ^ Sweney, Mark (2009-07-15). "Zoopla buys Thinkproperty.com from Guardian Media Group". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2009-07-28.
- ^ Sweney, Mark (2009-08-07). "News International sells PropertyFinder website to Zoopla.co.uk". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ "Zoopla acquires UpMyStreet.com – Zoopla". Retrieved 2012-11-08.
- ^ "Zoopla and Digital Property Group merger completes". 1 June 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
- ^ "Zoopla acquires Globrix as it steps up battle against Rightmove". Estate Agent Today. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
- ^ "Zoopla Property Group taps Stephen Moran as new CFO". CFO Insight.
- ^ "Zoopla float to value property website at £919m". The Guardian. 18 June 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
External links[edit]
|
||||||
