Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to note that an offering of Zillow shares that closed Sept. 24 was a follow-on offering dilutive to existing shareholders, not a secondary offering of previously issued shares.
Shares in real estate search website Trulia Inc. could begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange as soon as Thursday morning if shares in the company are priced tomorrow evening, as expected.
A Trulia spokesman declined to comment on reports on Forbes and AllThingsD.com that Trulia’s initial public offering will take place this week.
In a Sept. 6 regulatory filing, Trulia said it expected to offer 5 million shares priced at $14 to $16 per share. If underwriters exercise an option to purchase 900,000 additional shares, net proceeds from the IPO would total $78.3 million after expenses, the company said.
Zillow raised $75.7 million in an IPO last year, and plans to raise additional capital through a follow-on offering of more than 3 million shares.
In June, Trulia jumped to No. 2 behind Zillow on a list of most visited real estate-related websites compiled by the Web metrics firm Experian Hitwise. Last week, Zillow sued Trulia, claiming the company had infringed on a patent related to its property valuation tool.
If Trulia’s IPO goes as planned, the rivals will be well-positioned to make acquisitions or launch other growth initiatives.
Real estate technology consultant Brian Boero of 1000Watt Consulting has estimated that when the dust settles, Trulia will have a cash balance of roughly $85 million, Zillow will have $190 million, and Realtor.com operator Move Inc. $25 million.
Move, which is also publicly traded, got into the listing syndication business in 2010 by purchasing ListHub parent company Threewide Corp. for $13.1 million, and last year bought the social media search platform SocialBios. This month Move announced its acquisition of real estate lead generation and management company TigerLead Solutions LLC for $22 million.
In November, Zillow acquired Diverse Solutions, which powers listing searches for agent websites, for $7.8 million. This week the company said it plans to launch a national TV advertising campaign.
Trulia in December 2010 acquired Movity, a startup that helps homebuyers and renters research neighborhoods they might want to live in. The company has disclosed that it may use a portion of the net proceeds from the IPO "to acquire or invest in complementary businesses, products, services, technologies or other assets."
