Realty portal aims to close down some business units and renew its focus on building new products to generate advertisement revenue
Realty portal Housing aims to close down some business units and renew its focus on building new products to generate advertisement revenue as the two-year-old company regroups after recent upheavals in its top management.
The Mumbai-based company plans to close four of seven business units in a bid to reduce costs and focus on innovation and revenue generating businesses, according to three people privy to developments at the company which is backed by Japan's SoftBank.
“Some products and initiatives like short stays, and commercial have been shut down,“ said a senior company executive who did not wish to be identified. “The company has a targeted focus on monetisation and rolling out revenue generating advertisement products,“ he said.
These moves follow the failure of talks between Housing and classifieds listing company Quikr for a possible acquisition. “The price that Quikr was willing to pay was much lesser than Housing's asking price,“ said one person who briefed ET on the matter.
ET earlier reported that Quikr was in talks to acquire Housing for up to $175 million in a cash-andstock deal.
“Housing, from inception has been committed to technological innovation as its strategy, we continue to bring clear focus on our core product as we work towards excellence in deliveries,“ the company said in a statement.
The need to stem costs and reorient the strategy at the company follows months of internal turmoil which culminated in the ouster of former chief executive officer Rahul Yadav earlier this month.
“The board is helping the company achieve targets with respect to productivity, monetisation and a lean team. After that, they will de cide if selling is a better idea or op erating as a separate entity. That option is open,“ said an investor in Housing.com who briefed ET on the developments.
SoftBank, which owns about 32 % stake in the company, has also agreed to invest another $30 mil lion in the company as a bridge round, provided Housing meets certain operation targets in the next three months according to SIDDHARTH sources.
“Now after a chaotic 3-6 months the company is now getting its fo cus back to the core. Innovating technology and focus on primary and secondary products and mone tisation,“ said a second company executive.
Softbank declined to discuss the specifics of its funding plans for the company only writing, “like other investors, SoftBank remains involved in decisions to ensure smooth operations at Housing and (to) help maximise its potential,“ in an email response to queries by ET.
Housing was founded in 2012 by a dozen college-mates from IITMumbai. Four of them including Yadav now have left the company.
The company is currently managed by an executive committee that controls the finances and operations of the company. The committee is led by Jonathan Bullock, the SoftBank executive on the board of Housing.
Housing--which competes with CommonFloor, 99Acres, and MagicBricks, owned by the publisher of this paper-has so far received more than $120 million (.`760 crore) in funding and is valued at over . 1,500 crore.`
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