MAM
News Corp buys Propertyfinder.com for $25 million
MUMBAI: News International, the newspaper arm of media conglomerate News Corp, and online property group realestate.com.au have acquired the UK classified advertising web site Propertyfinder.com for $25.3 million.
The two companies have jointly purchased 95 per cent of Assert Holdings which owns propertyfinder.com from venture capital firm Arts Alliance, as well as minority shareholders including Hamptons Group Limited and management.
News International has said it would use what it called the unparalleled reach of its newspapers – the Sun, the News of the World, the Times and the Sunday Times – to promote the site and drive readers and internet users to it. Propertyfinder.com launched in 1995 and is now used by more than 2,000 estate agents offering 200,000 properties for sale and for let.
News Corp gained control of online property business realestate.com.au last week after its shareholding increased to 51.52 per cent.
News Ltd, owns a minority stake in realestate.com.au and has been trying to take control of the company.
Media reports indicate that Realestate.com.au will take over the running of propertyfinder.com and will seek to rapidly accelerate subscription and visitor growth.
Brands
Ujjwal Jain steps down from PhonePe’s Share.Market to start new chapter
Founder behind WealthDesk and OpenQ exits after decade-long fintech journey
BENGALURU: Ujjwal Jain, the entrepreneur behind platforms such as WealthDesk and OpenQ, has stepped down from his role as chief executive of Share.Market, the investing platform backed by PhonePe, marking the end of a decade-long journey in India’s capital markets space.
In a reflective note, Jain described his journey from launching WealthDesk in 2016 to building a broader ecosystem that eventually became part of PhonePe. Over the years, his ventures focused on bringing data-driven investing tools and model portfolios closer to retail investors, a space that has seen rapid evolution alongside the rise of discount broking.
WealthDesk introduced curated “WealthBaskets” to simplify portfolio investing, while OpenQ expanded access to quantitative research and analytics. Both platforms were later acquired by PhonePe, forming the backbone of Share.Market, which Jain helped scale as a mass-market investing product.
Calling the experience “brutal” yet deeply fulfilling, Jain credited colleagues, investors and industry partners for shaping the journey, highlighting the role of the PhonePe team in building Share.Market into a large-scale platform.
His exit comes at a time when artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape financial services globally. Jain indicated that his next move will focus on this shift, hinting at a renewed push into the intersection of AI and capital markets.
Prior to his entrepreneurial stint, Jain worked with MSCI Inc. on index products and technology, and with D. E. Shaw India Financial Services in algorithmic trading and high-frequency systems.
While he has not disclosed specifics of his next venture, Jain framed the move not as a departure but a reset, signalling that his next chapter will aim to tackle even larger challenges in India’s evolving investment landscape.
With one chapter closed and another underway, the focus now shifts to what Jain builds next in an increasingly AI-first financial world.
