Most real estate professionals may not know much about FMR Corp. or Capital Research and Management Co., but these companies must know a fair amount about online real estate through their large ownership stakes in Homestore, the real estate media and technology company that operates Realtor.com, an official Web site of the National Association of Realtors.
Capital Research, a 73-year-old investment management firm, owns 13.6 million common stock shares, or 11.1 percent, of Homestore, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission report the company filed Thursday. Capital Research manages 29 mutual funds and provides investment services for corporations, banks, trust companies and retirement plans. The company oversees more than $500 billion in assets.
Capital Research’s stake is worth $65.3 million, based on Homestore’s (Nasdaq: HOMS) closing price Friday of $4.80 a share.
FMR Corp., a mutual fund giant that is part of Fidelity Investments, owns 13.5 million shares, or 11 percent, of Homestore. Those shares were worth $64.8 million when the stock market closed Friday. Fidelity manages nearly 340 funds and has approximately $775 billion of assets under management.
NAR owns about 4 million shares, or 3.3 percent of Homestore’s common stock worth $19.2 million at Friday’s close.
A number of Homestore directors and executive officers also have large stakes in the company. L. John Doerr, general partner of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, owns 4.3 million shares worth $20.6 million. Homestore CEO Michael Long owns 3.7 million shares worth $17.8 million. COOJack Dennison owns 1.9 million shares worth $9.1 million. CFO Lewis Belote owns 1.2 million shares worth $5.8 million. EVP Allan Merrill owns 738,000 shares worth $3.5 million, and Realtor.com President Allan Dalton with 651,000 shares worth $3.1 million.
In the four years since Homestore’s initial public offering, the share price has experienced dramatic highs and lows, reaching $128 a share in January 2000 and dipping to 37 cents in November 2002.
The company is expected to announce its first quarter earnings Thursday.
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