Australian Community Media has teamed up with realestateview.com.au to form a new joint venture, in which they will collectively invest $100 million over the next five years.
Both companies are majority owned by Antony Catalano and his business partner.
The venture will be a “market-leading, multi-faceted property media, agency services and data business”.
Today, ACM rolled out their new-look property section across 130 of its print and digital mastheads, with realestateview.com.au replacing Domain as the consumer-facing brand.
“The move is a key strategic piece of our real estate digital media plan,” explains ACM CEO Antony Catalano.
“With majority ownership in the JV we can now look to fast-track the realestateview.com.au business by enabling it through all parts of the ACM business including editorial, marketing and of course a combined national sales force that will sell our integrated property marketing solution.
“We’ve proven through our regional pilots that by combining ACM’s publishing assets with the Today Acquire digital marketing tool and a listing on realestateview.com.au, we are able to reach buyers more effectively at all stages along the path to purchase and then nurture those leads through to agents and vendors.”
Mr Catalano and his business partner, Alex Waislitz bought ACM last June, and in February held the majority share in realestateview.com.au, with a 26 per cent stake.
“When Alex Waislitz and I bought ACM, we came with a commitment to invest and grow,” Mr Catalano said.
“COVID hasn’t made things easy but we’ve worked hard with the executive team and we’re now seeing the plan come together as we look to evolve into a digitally-led media business with many strings to our bow.
“Our push more aggressively into the property space and in particular into digital solutions provides a broader and more sustainable revenue base, which will enable us to continue to grow and invest in not only the communities we operate in, but we’ll be doing our bit to keep journalism funded and alive in Australia.”
Mr Catalano was CEO of Domain until January, 2018, resigning shortly after the company’s public listing.
“When I re-joined Fairfax, I made a commitment to my young family that I could be there for them and do the job,” he said in a statement released at the time.
“It has become clear to me that doing the job of a listed company CEO the way it needs to be done means that I am not meeting that family commitment.”
