The boss of Australian portal giant REA Group has denied that his retirement announced yesterday has been prompted by his firm’s failed attempt to buy Rightmove.

Owen Wilson (main image), who has steered the firm for six years and spent sixteen years working there in total, says he is to retire by June, depending on how long it takes to find a successor.

REA Group made the headlines during the Autumn last year when Wilson personally led an attempt to persuade

Rightmove shareholders to part company with their stock and enable his firm to take control of the UK’s largest property portal.

Defeat

But on 1^st October Wilson had to admit defeat after spending huge sums on the campaign during which REA Group made four different offers to Rightmove’s institutional investors.

At the time Wilson said his overtures had a clear ‘strategic rationale’ and that a takeover would be an opportunity to create a “global and diversified digital property company, with strong margins and significant cash generation, underpinned by number one positions in Australia and the UK”.

The effort didn’t damage REA Group financially – it has just reported half-year profits up 26% to $314 million, helped by a strong Australian property market and its investment in a leading Singapore property portal, PropertyGuru.

Nevertheless, during a briefing session for investors, Wilson was persuaded by rumours over his departure to say the Rightmove bid was not a factor in his decision to step down.

Capital Brief reports that he added: “I wouldn’t read anything into it in relation to Rightmove.

“It’s, you know — there’s a whole bunch of factors that have gone into the decision. One of the things I will say — if you know me, you know how I’m wired — if we weren’t firing, I wouldn’t have been able to make this decision. That’s how I’m wired,” Wilson said.

“Rightmove has had no impact on that whatsoever. This is a personal decision.”