Crikey reported earlier this week that PBL’s SEEK is preparing to launch into the real estate classified space. In part, their report says:
Seek had revenues of just $47.3 million in the December half, but managed a net profit of $27.1 million and is now capitalised at $1.5 billion.
This result demonstrates how removed the pricing for online classifieds is from the real cost. Companies like SEEK are purchasing bandwidth for a fraction of what they charge the advertiser.
Fairfax, News, Telstra and PBL control online classifieds in Australia and do not seem to compete on price as one could expect.
Disclosure: I am involved in Find It which is set to launch in the online classified space later this year.