By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks started the week off
on a mostly negative note Monday, with declines coming from many
sector leaders, including Zillow Inc. after the online real-estate
information company announced a $3.5 billion deal to acquire rival
Trulia Inc.
Zillow (ZILLOW.XX) shares were down 3.7% at $153.20, while
Trulia Inc. (TRLA) climbed almost 12%, to $63.10 after the
all-stock deal that would bring together two of the biggest names
in the fast-growing market for online real-estate information was
announced. The deal is expected to close in 2015.
Zillow said it will continue to use the Trulia brand. Trulia
Chief Executive Pete Flint will retain his title and report to
Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff. Additionally, Flint, and a second
member of Trulia's board of directors will join Zillow's board.
While both companies are known mostly as resources of
real-estate information for consumers, Zillow said in a statement
that they "are primarily media companies, generating the majority
of revenue through advertising sales to real estate professionals."
In June, Zillow reported 83 million unique visitors across its
mobile and Web platforms, while Trulia reported 54 million unique
visitors during the month.
Mark Mahaney, of RBC Capital Markets, called the acquisition "a
natural consolidation with the online real estate industry," in
which advertising is valued at more than $10 billion annually.
In addition to Trulia, mild gains also came from Apple Inc.
(AAPL), Priceline.com Inc. (PCLN), IBM Corp. (IBM) and Oracle Corp.
(ORCL).
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) fell more than 16 points to
4,433, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was off by
0.5%.
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