Domain of magical numbers
Domain’s hype falls flat as CoStar steps in to clean up the mess.
The impending de-listing of Domain Holdings, via its $2.8 billion takeover by US real estate data giant CoStar, is an enormous relief for the hapless buy- and sell-side analysts who had to cover the company during its seven and a half years on the ASX.
Their relief stems from the fact that Domain will no longer shower the market, and anyone whose job it was to listen, with a deluge of nauseating positivity and delusion. In a landscape filled with CEOs who increasingly resemble carnival barkers, Domain stood out as a beacon of hyperbole, self-aggrandisement and shameless puffery.
Looking back over Domain's investor presentations of recent years, it is truly stunning how successfully Domain was increasing its audience share, growing the number of real estate agents paying for its premium products, and steadily increasing the prices paid for premium depth ads.
Domain's performance – going by these slide decks – was absolutely stellar. Except that in reality it wasn't. In every year that Domain was a listed public company it lost market share by the only measures that count – audience share and revenue growth – relative to its competitor REA Group.