Hiring Roundup: PropertyGuru, Realtor.com, Fang.com, Homely, North Media

March 31, 2022
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Now that most public companies have reported their results, the industry moves out of results season and, seemingly, into hiring and reshuffle season. There has been plenty of hiring activity in the real estate portal industry this week, here's a summary of the movers and shakers...

 

PropertyGuru hires Director for newly created data business position

PropertyGuru has appointed former Expedia executive Shyn Yee Ho-Strangas to a newly created position of Managing Director for the Data and Software Solutions business.

In her new role, Shyn Yee will be responsible for driving the vision, strategy, and execution of innovative and game-changing data and software solutions and services and will report directly to group CEO Hari V Krishnan who said of the new appointment:

“Shyn Yee brings along years of valuable experience building software solutions for enterprise players in a dynamic sector. This will be a critical asset as we build out our software products and expand our data solutions. Over the last 15 years, our growth and success have been due to constant investments in technology, providing solutions that solve customer pain-points. I am confident that she will be an invaluable leader to push forward our agenda for data transparency and bring solutions that the industry needs.”

PropertyGuru has big plans for its data, fintech and software business which the company expects to grow at a CAGR of 105% between 2020 and 2025. The 'fintech and data' segment currently represents under 2% of the group's revenues, but this is forecasted to increase to 13% by 2025.

The appointment comes hot on the heels of PropertyGuru's debut on the New York Stock Exchange following its merger with Bridgetown 2 Holdings, a SPAC backed by well-known billionaire Peter Thiel.

 

New executive hires at Realtor.com as it seeks to put controversy in the rearview

Realtor.com has announced two new executive hires as it adds a new Chief Growth Officer Role and appoints a new Chief Revenue Officer.

The newly created role of Chief Growth Officer will be occupied by former Expedia SVP of technology, product and strategy Arthur Chapin. Reporting directly to Move Inc's CEO David Doctorow, Chapin's role will very much be focused on the rentals and new homes markets where the company sees room for expansion.

"Arthur is a talented leader and strategist who will focus on expanding our business into the rentals and new homes markets," said Doctorow.

Meanwhile, Bryan Ellis is to take on the role of Chief Revenue Officer. Ellis was previously in charge of ads and leads at professional services aggregator Angie's List and before that, he held positions at Tesla, Solar City, Guthy-Renker, NAMG and Bertelsmann.

“Realtor.com is moving rapidly to innovate and differentiate itself with its open marketplace approach that empowers consumers and real estate professionals and ultimately, allows us to succeed together,” Ellis said in a statement. “I look forward to my new role and working with an amazing team to drive revenue and profits that help achieve the company’s ambitious growth plans and that vision.”

Realtor.com and its parent Move Inc recently made headlines in the industry because of a lawsuit brought against the company by former employees alleging fraud, negligence and toxic work culture.

 

Founder of underperforming Chinese real estate portal Fang.com steps down from the board

The publicly traded Chinese real estate portal company Fang.com is to undergo a reshuffle of its board. Most significantly, Fang.com's founder and Executive Chairman Mr. Vincent Tianquan Mo has stepped down from the board of Directors. Mr Mo's place has been filled by Mr. Richard Jiangong Dai, a longtime servant and former CEO of the company.

A statement from the company explained that Mr Mo's resignation was not due to any "disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company's operations, policies or practices".

Along with fellow Chinese real estate portal FangDD, Fang.com has been struggling recently with its share price at an all-time low with the company having received a warning from the NYSE for not having filed an annual report for the year ended December 31st, 2020.

 

Australian challenger Homely promotes internally for Queensland growth position

The Australian challenger portal Homely has announced that Oliver Stanbrook has been appointed regional sales manager for Queensland.

The post is effectively a promotion for Stanbrook who has been a senior account manager at Homely for four and a half years. Stanbrook has ample experience in the online classifieds industry having previously worked at Carsales.com.au as well as the #2 portal Domain. Both experiences stand him in good stead for his new role

“I’ve always worked for the industry challenger. Learning how to grow and represent a business that’s truly different from the competition has become a strength of mine,” commented Stanbrook.

 

Board reshuffle for Boligportal parent North Media

The company behind one of the leading rental portals in Denmark is to undergo a board reshuffle and appoint a new CEO.

North Media is reducing the number of members of its executive board from five to three with the stated aim of the move being to "ensure faster decision-making processes, more homogeneous strategic execution and stronger coherence across the Group".

Lasse Ingemann Brodt, CEO of the subsidiary FK Distribution and a member of the Group Executive Board since 2018, is to be appointed the new CEO of North Media. Kåre Stausø Wigh, who has served as both Group Executive Director and CFO since 2016 will continue as CFO. and Lisbeth Britt Larsen will join the Group Executive Board as Group CHRO. Lisbeth Britt Larsen joined FK Distribution in 2010, and for the last two years, she has served as Group Head of HR.

March 31, 2022
Since March 2020 Edmund's job has been to read about, write about, collect data on, analyse and generally know about real estate marketplaces and the companies that run them. Before that he worked at the aggregator Mitula Group (which became Lifull Connect) for five years.

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