Seattle-based online real estate company Zillow announced Friday afternoon that it plans to close its $1.8 billion acquisition of San Francisco-based Trulia as early as next Tuesday.
Zillow noted today that the Federal Trade Commission has completed its investigation after the agency submitted a second request in November to review any potential anti-trust violations. The deal was originally announced this past July and shareholders approved the deal one month later. But Zillow delayed the merger multiple times after the FTC asked to further investigate the deal.
The deal was reported to be worth $3.5 billion in July. But based on the current share values of each company, the deal is now worth about $1.8 billion.
The acquisition will bring together two long-time rivals and create a powerhouse in the online real estate industry. Zillow has argued that the blockbuster deal will benefit the industry, and in a letter to real estate partners, Zillow vice president Curt Beardsley wrote that the deal would lead to more innovation, improve listing infrastructure and empower consumers with more information.
“We believe this is a tremendous opportunity to combine resources for innovation,” he wrote.
In response to anti-trust concerns about the merger, CEO Spencer Rascoff told CNN in July that a combined Zillow and Trulia company would control just 4 percent of the overall real estate marketing spend in the U.S. “Most advertising still occurs offline; it hasn’t migrated to the Internet yet,” he said.
Pete Flint will remain as CEO of Trulia, which will continue to operate as a standalone brand in the Zillow family. He will join the board, along with another representative from Trulia. Trulia shareholders will own about one third of Zillow.
Zillow also reported its fourth quarter earnings on Friday. The company posted record revenue of $92 million, which was up 58 percent from last year and beat analyst expectations by $2 million, and an EPS of ($0.27), which missed estimates by one cent. Zillow took a $109 million loss last quarter.
Average monthly unique users for Q4 nearly hit 77 million, which was up 41 percent year-over-year. For 2014, Zillow reported $325 million in revenue, up 65 percent from 2013.
“Simply stated, 2014 was a remarkable year for Zillow with record revenue, record mobile usage and record Premier Agent advertiser revenue,” Rascoff said in a statement.
Shares of Zillow are up more than 2 percent in after-hours trading and up more than 24 percent in the past year. The company’s stock price reached an all-time high of $160 per share before the acquisition announcement on July 28, but is now trading at $106 per share.
