Indian real estate websites PropTiger.com and Housing.com are merging to create the country's top portal for residential listings and property services, as Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. boosts its investment in the growing sector while Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group Corp. scales back.
REA Group Ltd., an Australian real estate company controlled by News Corp., is putting $50 million into the new joint entity, while a SoftBank-owned affiliate is investing $5 million. PropTiger co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Dhruv Agarwala will continue to lead the merged businesses.
The deal also ends a painful chapter for SoftBank. The Japanese company had backed Housing.com with $100 million starting in 2014, only to find itself caught up in a public spat with the startup's CEO, who was later dismissed by the board. The combined entity will continue to be called PropTiger, and brings together real-estate brokerage services and home listings. India is projected to be the third-largest real estate market in the world by 2030, the companies said in a statement.