Wow, shares of Zillow, on a rocket ship ride since the beginning of the year, are soaring again today after news that Australian billionaire James Packer bought 9.4 percent of the company. Bloomberg notes that the stock purchase makes Packer the second biggest holder of the Seattle online real estate company behind Caledonia Private Investments Pty.
Zillow’s shares are flying high as a result, topping $100 per share for the first time. The stock is now trading above $101, reaching an all-time high of $103 at one point. Zillow went public at $20 per share in July 2011, and the stock is up a whopping 267 percent just this year. It now has a market value of $3.86 billion.
Packer is son of media mogul Kerry Packer, who had previously owned cable TV operations in Australia. The family has since diversified its holdings into casino gaming under the brand Crown. With a reported net worth of $6.1 billion, Packer also previously owned shares in the online jobs site Seek.
We’ve been watching Zillow shares closely in recent weeks, wondering when it might top $100. The company interestingly enough slumped a bit last month after raising $205 million in a public offering, pricing those shares at $82. But since that offering on August 19, shares of the company have taken off.
Zillow is positioning itself to be the No. 1 online real estate company in the country, launching a multi-million dollar ad campaign in the U.S. It now attracts more than 60 million unique visitors per month.
