Nine Entertainment’s digital real estate platform, Domain, is now facing a potential takeover bid from the U.S. property giant CoStar, which has acquired nearly a 20% stake in the company. Nine, which also owns prominent Australian publications like The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Australian Financial Review, holds a 60% stake in Domain. CoStar’s interest in the business comes as Nine undergoes a strategic review of its broader operations.
The takeover offer was first reported by The Australian Financial Review, which highlighted that Macquarie Capital purchased Domain shares for $4.20 each on behalf of the U.S. company. Domain’s shares have been trading around $3, with the stock closing at $3.12 on Thursday, giving the company a market capitalization of $1.97 billion. The price CoStar paid for its stake values the company at $2.7 billion.
If the deal goes through, it could significantly alter the Australian real estate classifieds market, which has been dominated by News Corp’s REA Group, with Domain being a distant second.
For Nine, CoStar’s interest provides an opportunity to reassess its portfolio, which includes media, broadcasting, streaming, and radio assets. Earlier in January, acting CEO Matt Stanton announced a restructuring of the company, which included the creation of a new marketplaces division aimed at enhancing returns from Domain and its Drive platform. Stanton mentioned that this division would bring focused attention to the business, maximizing its potential for value creation.
Domain’s CEO, Jason Pellegrino, left the company in October, and a permanent replacement has yet to be appointed. In the interim, Greg Ellis, a former REA Group executive, is serving as the acting CEO. Recently, Domain reported a 7.4% increase in revenue for the first half of fiscal 2025, reaching $217.2 million, which was slightly below analyst expectations of $220.5 million. However, core earnings for the period came in above expectations at $77.8 million.
CoStar, a Nasdaq-listed company valued at $51 billion, specializes in commercial real estate data and operates a range of listing platforms including CoStar, LoopNet, Apartments.com, and Ten-X.