Rightmove sees share price fall following OpenRent exit
The portal saw its share price drop by nearly 5% following confirmation that the UK's largest lettings agency OpenRent was to exit its listings.
Rightmove’s share price fell nearly 5% following news yesterday that the UK’s largest lettings agency OpenRent is to leave the portal.
The shares dropped 26p in trading to 521.8p, and 47p or just over 8% in the last five days since The Neg broke the news that OpenRent was exiting Rightmove.
Rightmove terminated its agreement with OpenRent with effect from 1st September 2024 after negotiations between the two organisations broke down over pricing.
Major blow
It was clear that relations between the two companies had become frosty after OpenRent removed Rightmove from its website three weeks ago.
The loss of OpenRent, which until now represented 8% of all Rightmove’s rental property listings, is a major blow to Rightmove.
The portal’s share price will be expected to recover in the next few days and weeks, but the fall shows how serious the market regards the exit of OpenRent.
Statement
Rightmove told The Neg that it “does not comment on individual advertisers”, but in a statement to the City today it said: “OpenRent’s landlord customers will therefore lose access to the UK’s largest property-seeking audience.
“Rightmove remains the place for consumers to find more UK properties than any other portal, and in H1 2024, delivered eight times the number of properties rented than the next largest portal. Over 80% of all consumer time spent on property portals continues to be spent on Rightmove.”
