Zillow announces sale of ActiveRain

Zillow Group, which encompasses the Zillow and Trulia real estate brands, announced that it plans to sell ActiveRain, a social networking and blogging platform for the real estate industry, to the Ben Kinney family of companies. The sale will likely close June 30.

The Ben Kinney family of companies is a collection of real estate-related training and software companies, which includes Real Launch, Brivity, and Blossor, as well as technology firms like Big Fresh and Tech Help. Kinney, a licensed real estate professional for 11 years, leads nearly 1,000 agents in the real estate brokerage he owns and operates in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

"We have some great things in store for ActiveRain that we think agents who use the site are going to love," says Kinney. He also recently told HousingWire: "Our intention is to keep and grow the platform. We plan to invest majorly in technology, as many agents on the site have asked for." He also told HousingWire the site will be "brand agnostic" and not allow any influence from any major real estate brand.

"ActiveRain is a community for all brokerage models and all brands no matter how large or small," Kinney told HousingWire.

ActiveRain was owned by Trulia but became part of the Zillow Group when Zillow acquired Trulia earlier this year. Trulia increased its presence in ActiveRain when it originally acquired it, branding the URL with ActiveRain.Trulia.com. Starting this week, ActiveRain is to revert back to its original URL, ActiveRain.com.

Also involved in the acquisition, Zillow Group announced that Kinney will also acquire the company Kwkly, a text-to-lead service that helps connect buyers with agents.

 

About the author: Mike Wheatley is the senior editor at Realty Biz News. Got a real estate related news article you wish to share, contact Mike at mike@realtybiznews.com.