ZPG Ltd

ZPG Limited
Private
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 and Comparison search websites
Revenue £244.5 million (2017)[1]
£53.7 million (2017)[1]
£37.4 million (2017)[1]
Website www.zpg.co.uk

ZPG Ltd is a British company, owned by Silver Lake Partners.[2][3] ZPG 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. Its brands include the property website Zoopla, price comparison service uSwitch, finance comparison website Money.co.uk,[4] PrimeLocation and Hometrack.[5] ZPG PLC was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Silver Lake Partners in July 2018.

History

The company was founded as Zoopla 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.[6] It was backed by Accomplice, Octopus Ventures and other investors.[7][8] In July 2009, Zoopla acquired property website Thinkproperty.com from the Guardian Media Group.[9] In August 2009, Zoopla acquired the PropertyFinders Group, consisting of the websites Propertyfinders.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.[10] In January 2011 Zoopla acquired historic database of UK house prices HousePrices.co.uk.[11]

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 and in May 2012, Zoopla acquired property information website UpMyStreet.com.[12] In June 2012 it formed Zoopla Property Group Ltd.[13] In December 2012, Zoopla acquired property information website Globrix.com.[14] In Spring 2013, Stephen Morana, formerly of Betfair Group Plc, was appointed new Chief Financial Officer (CFO).[15] Zoopla's biggest shareholder, the Daily Mail and General Trust floated Zoopla on the London Stock Exchange in June 2014.[16]

In June 2015, Zoopla bought the price comparison website uSwitch.[17] In July 2016 it was revealed that Zoopla's CEO was one of the businessmen behind a controversial legal challenge to the EU referendum result.[18] In February 2017 the company changed its name to ZPG plc.[19]In September 2017, Zoopla purchased the financial services comparison website Money.co.uk for £140 million.[20][21]

In May 2018 US private equity firm Silver Lake Partners made a bid for the company.[22] The transaction completed in July 2018.[23]

Operations

Footballer Youssouf Mulumbu wearing a West Bromwich Albion shirt endorsed by Zoopla in 2013

ZPG owns a searchable directory of UK residential properties using various sources like the Royal Mail's postcode database, the HM Land Registry's data on property transactions in England and Wales, 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. Zoopla also allows users to claim their home or set a TemptMe price, similar to US website Zillow. Its analogue for valuing the Internet properties is DNPric.es. The accuracy of Zoopla's computed valuations is disputed.[24][25]

Sponsorship

ZPG has sponsored West Bromwich Albion Football Club since 2012.[26] In January 2014, founder Alex Chesterman, who is Jewish, decided to remove support of the club after an allegedly anti-Semitic gesture from player Nicolas Anelka made headlines.[27]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Annual Report 2017" (PDF). Zoopla. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  2. ↑ "Britain's Zoopla, PrimeLocation bought by Silver Lake for $3 billion". Reuters. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  3. ↑ Lucy White. "Zoopla's parent group ZPG looks set to be taken over by US private equity firm Silver Lake for £2.2bn". CityAM. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  4. ↑ "Subscribe to read". Financial Times. Retrieved 2017-10-29.
  5. ↑ Khan, Mehreen (2017-01-31). "Zoopla snaps up Hometrack in £120m deal". Financial Times. Retrieved 2017-10-29.
  6. ↑ "About Zoopla!". Retrieved 2008-07-26.
  7. ↑ "Our portfolio – Zoopla". Retrieved 2008-07-26.
  8. ↑ "Business Digest". The Times. London. 2009-01-18. Retrieved 2009-01-18.
  9. ↑ Sweney, Mark (2009-07-15). "Zoopla buys Thinkproperty.com from Guardian Media Group". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  10. ↑ Sweney, Mark (2009-08-07). "News International sells PropertyFinders website to Zoopla.co.uk". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
  11. ↑ "Zoopla acquires Houseprices.co.uk". Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  12. ↑ "Zoopla acquires UpMyStreet.com – Zoopla". Retrieved 2012-11-08.
  13. ↑ "Zoopla and Digital Property Group merger completes". 1 June 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  14. ↑ "Zoopla acquires Globrix as it steps up battle against Rightmove". Estate Agent Today. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  15. ↑ "Zoopla Property Group taps Stephen Moran as new CFO". CFO Insight.
  16. ↑ "Zoopla float to value property website at £919m". The Guardian. 18 June 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  17. ↑ "Zoopla to buy uSwitch price comparison site". BBC.
  18. ↑ Zoopla CEO Behind Mishcon De Reya Anti-Brexit Legal Action - Guido Fawkes Euro Guido
  19. ↑ "Zoopla Property Group changes name to ZPG". Property Portal. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  20. ↑ "Zoopla is buying financial comparison site Money.co.uk in deal worth up to £140 million". nordic.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2017-10-06.
  21. ↑ "Zoopla buys the financial services of Money.co.uk in deal worth up to £140m". Express.co.uk. 2017-09-08. Retrieved 2017-10-06.
  22. ↑ "Zoopla's parent group ZPG looks set to be taken over by US private equity firm Silver Lake for £2.2bn". City AM. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  23. ↑ "Court sanctions £2,2 billion ZPG deal". Inside Media. 10 July 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  24. ↑ "What's your property worth?". lovemoney.com. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  25. ↑ "Estate Agent Today". estateagenttoday.co.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  26. ↑ "West Bromwich Albion". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  27. ↑ "Nicolas Anelka: West Brom sponsor Zoopla to end deal". BBC Sport. 20 January 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.