Tribune buys ForSaleByOwner.com

By David B. Wilkerson, MarketWatch
Last Update: 6:22 PM ET May 22, 2006

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Newspaper publisher and broadcaster Tribune Co. on Monday said that its Tribune Interactive subsidiary has acquired ForSaleByOwner.com, a national real-estate Web site, for an undisclosed amount.

ForSaleByOwner.com, which connects home buyers and sellers through private-party residential property listings, had more than 1.6 million average monthly unique visitors last year, according to data from comScore Media Metrix.

Tim Landon, president of Tribune Interactive, emphasized that the company remains "strongly committed to Realtors, to whom a majority of consumers turn for real-estate transactions."

Tribune always has allowed sellers to list properties for sale independently, according to Tom Finke, vice president of development.

"The marketplace that we have created over the last 150 years has very much benefited the broker and agent community," Finke said in an interview. "Private-party listings have been a part of that community forever. So while a broker at first blush might be concerned about this, I think if they step back and think about the value that they derive from the marketplace, I think they'd realize in the long run that this will be beneficial to them."

Advertising services provided by ForSaleByOwner.com range in price from about $90 to $900, depending on the seller's needs.

At a time when newspaper industry is trying to cope with a choppy advertising environment, real-estate advertising, particularly online, has shown robust growth across the industry for several quarters.

In the first quarter, classified real-estate ad revenue jumped 35% from a year earlier. In the fourth quarter of 2005, real-estate revenue climbed 19% from the prior year.

Tribune (TRB) shares fell 21 cents to close at $27.81.