News International / Propertyfinder.com

News International, part of the media group News Corp, has revealed that it has purchased Propertyfinder.com, a classified advertising website for homes, for GBP14.3m.

News Corp and its 51.5%-owned Australian subsidiary realestate.com.au purchased 95% of Asserta Holdings, the site owner, under the terms of the deal, from venture capital company Arts Alliance and minority shareholders. The company will be owned equally between News Corp and realestate.com.au, with the latter having management control.

Advertising spend has started to move onto the Internet and away from print and a number of online classified site acquisitions have been made by newspaper publishers in recent months.

(c) Internet Business News