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DS News Webcast: Wednesday 10/1/2014

News Corp, one of the world's biggest mass media companies, is buying online real estate firm Move, Inc., in a $950 million cash deal, the companies announced Tuesday morning. Under the acquisition agreement, which was unanimously approved by Move's board, News Corp will acquire all of Move's outstanding shares at the cost of $21 per share. The buy represents a premium of 37 percent over Move's closing stock price at the end of trading on Monday. News Corp said it will commence a tender offer for all shares of Move's common stock within 10 business days, following that with a merger to acquire any untendered shares.

Through the deal, News Corp says it hopes to become a leading player in the expanding arena of online real estate through Move's various tools and its listing site, Realtor.com. The deal comes two months after two of Move's biggest competitors, Zillow and Trulia, announced plans to merge. Through Realtor.com and its mobile applications, Move displays more than 98 percent of all for-sale properties listed in the United States, sourcing its data from relationships with hundreds of multiple listing services nationwide.

Eight states reported a median sales price for distressed homes at less than half the sales price of non-distressed homes in August, according to a report recently released by RealtyTrac. West Virginia had the highest discount for distressed home prices at 66 percent, followed by Vermont, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Kentucky. Distressed sales accounted for 13.5 percent of all single-family residential home sales in the U.S. in August.

About Author: Jordan Funderburk

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