Nine Entertainment’s classifieds asset Domain Holdings receives $1.7bn acquisition offer from CoStar

Nine Entertainment’s real estate content subsidiary Domain Holdings has received an unsolicited A$2.7bn (US$1.72bn) acquisition offer from US media company CoStar Group.

Peter Tonagh

CoStar has already secured 16.9% of Domain’s shares with the intention to acquire 100% shareholding of the ASX listed company, which has a separate listing from Nine Entertainment.

Nine issued a statement acknowledging the offer and confirmed that the Domain board has commenced assessment of the proposal.

“Domain is of strategic importance to Nine’s media ecosystem and our long-term growth strategy. Nine will consider the proposal with a focus on the best interests of Nine shareholders,” Nine said.

The offer arrives as Nine continues its sweeping operational review which executives have stated could include divesting media assets such as classified division Domian, streaming platform Stan or its radio assets.

Nine started the new year revealing it had added seasoned media executive and investor Peter Tonagh and M&A specialist Tim Longstaff to the board to bring his expertise to the ongoing restructure of the cross-platform media company.

In January the network also appointed former Foxtel executive Amanda Laing to lead a new content division as acting CEO Matt Stanton announced a significant business restructure. The “operating model reset” aims to help deliver a cost reduction target of A$50m (US$31m) in 2025.