David Doctorow is stepping down after three years as chief executive officer of Move, Inc.
Doctorow is set to depart from the Realtor.com parent company — and News Corporation subsidiary — on June 12, the media conglomerate announced on Thursday. He will be succeeded by Damian Eales, who has been an executive vice president with News Corp since July 2020.
The former Ebay executive was named CEO of Move in February 2020, shortly before the onset of the pandemic.
“Real estate has always had its ups and downs, never more so than in the last three years,” Doctorow wrote in a LinkedIn post confirming the news, adding he was departing from the post with “mixed emotions.”
Some of the big moves made under Doctorow’s leadership included the acquisitions of landlord management platformAvail and real estate agent marketplaceUpNest.
Realtor.com revenue and site traffic grew under his leadership, the company highlighted in a release on his exit, but there have been signs of struggles in recent months. Lead volume fell 30 percent in the first quarter and revenue slipped by 17 percent, according to company earnings.
Arguably the most closely-watched move during Doctorow’s three-year tenure, however, is one that didn’t happen.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp was reported earlier this year to have been in talks to sell Move to CoStar Group, a deal that would have valued Move at $3 billion. It was an opportunity for CoStar to continue its push into the residential space after acquisitions of HomeSnap and Apartments.com.
The talks fizzled and CoStar CEO Andy Florence confirmed their end in the company’s fourth quarter earnings call. At the time, it was reported that Move had received interest from other buyers, though no deal has since transpired.
News Corp said it would “continue to actively assess opportunities to support the company’s strategy to optimize the value of its digital real estate services segment.”
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Eales will assume the role of chief executive effective June 12.
News Corp stock rose by 2.1 percent on Thursday, closing the day at $18.69 per share.