Inman

Classified Ventures names new president of real estate business

Classified Ventures LLC, a joint venture owned by six leading media companies, today announced the appointment of Tim Fagan to president of Classified Ventures Real Estate.

An eight-year veteran with Classified Ventures, Fagan has been serving as senior vice president and general manager of Apartments.com, a division of Classified Ventures. In his new position, Fagan will oversee HomeGain and Homescape and lead Classified Ventures’ combined online real estate strategy.

Fagan assumes responsibility as president, CV Real Estate from Richard Sommer, who resigned the position effective June 30, 2006.

“Promoting Tim Fagan, who has a proven track record of generating strong results and forward momentum, illustrates the commitment we’ve made to our real estate businesses, HomeGain and Homescape,” said Dan Jauernig, Classified Ventures’ president and CEO. “Under Tim’s leadership, both businesses will continue to improve upon core products and services to better meet the needs of advertisers, consumers and our affiliate newspaper partners.” Under the direction of Fagan, Apartments.com advertisers have grown from 7,000 to over 14,000, revenues have increased over 500 percent, and profitability has increased, he said. 

Reporting to Fagan will be Frank Breithaupt, vice president and general manager of Homescape, and Richard Sommer, CEO of HomeGain, until his departure in June. Breithaupt has been with Classified Ventures for seven years, most recently serving as vice president of product for Homescape.

Sommer will remain at Classifed Ventures to assist during the transition.

During his tenure at HomeGain, Sommer was able to double revenues and add additional resources to HomeGain’s staff and management team while keeping the company profitable, Jauernig said. “He effectively managed the acquisition of HomeGain to Classified Ventures in 2005, and led the integration of HomeGain into CV’s real estate business. We wish Richard the best of luck in his future endeavors.” 

“HomeGain and Homescape saw a combined 6.6 million unique visitors to their sites in March,” according to Fagan.

HomeGain is an online source for connecting real estate professionals with home buyers and sellers.

Homescape offers online advertising to 150 local online newspaper Web sites nationwide.

Classified Ventures is a strategic joint venture among six media companies, including Belo Corp., Gannett Co. Inc., Knight Ridder Inc., The McClatchy Co., Tribune Co. and The Washington Post Co. The company’s four businesses include Apartments.com, Cars.com, HomeGain and Homescape.

***

Send tips or a Letter to the Editor to jessica@inman.com or call (510) 658-9252, ext. 133.