After Xceligent bites the dust, CoStar announces Kansas City deal

KC-based data company declared bankruptcy in December

Andrew Florance, Doug Curry and Kansas City
Andrew Florance, Doug Curry and Kansas City

Weeks after Xceligent declared bankruptcy and folded, the data company’s main rival and chief legal antagonist CoStar Group planted a flag in its hometown of Kansas City, Missouri.

On Wednesday, CoStar announced that it had formed a partnership with the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors. As part of the deal, CoStar will become the “exclusive data, analytics and marketing provider” for the association, it said in a news release.

In December 2016, CoStar filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Xceligent, alleging that the company, led by Doug and Erin Curry, stole its images. A year later, Xceligent filed for Chapter 7 liquidation amid spiraling legal costs and disappointing earnings. Hundreds lost their jobs at the Kansas City office.

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CoStar has a history of passive aggressive (and at times openly aggressive) PR tactics against its competitors. After it reached a settlement with data company RealMassive in a separate copyright infringement lawsuit, the company sent out a statement accusing RealMassive of being “powered by content that was stolen from those who created it through hard work and investment.”

Last year, CoStar sent a brochure to Xceligent customers with news clippings claiming that one of its contractors was tied to sex trafficking. And after the rival filed for liquidation, CoStar issued a statement claiming Xceligent “failed as a result of business missteps over two decades.”