LA Times Media starts real estate auction business
- |
NEW YORK—Los Angeles Times Media Group, a
The media company said Zetabid opened for business Monday, with its first auction of bank-owned and builder-owned homes set for Sept. 27 and Sept. 28. Zetabid also will operate a Web site on which people can register to participate in auctions and view listings online.
The move comes as media companies are increasingly losing real estate classified advertising to online sites, and Tribune Co. is searching for ways to recapture lost revenue at its newspaper properties.
There are already several newspaper initiatives that try to keep online ads with the publishing companies, notably Classified Ventures LLC, which runs the Apartments.com and Cars.com sites.
Zetabid, which will advertise its listings in LA Times media properties, including the flagship paper and several broadcast and online outlets, takes that concept a step further by actually getting into the real estate business by providing listings and selling homes.
LA Times Media partnered with London-based GoIndustry-DoveBid and CataList Homes of Hermosa Beach, Calif. GoIndustry will conduct the auctions and CataList will manage the real estate listings. The three will share revenue from each home sold.
