Fairfax makes Antony Catalano CEO of real estate website Domain
Metro Media Publishing boss Antony Catalano has been appointed by Fairfax Media as CEO of its real estate classifieds business Domain.
Catalano was most recently the chief executive and publisher of Metro Media Publishing (MMP), which he founded after he was made redundant from Fairfax, and then launched The Weekly Review to rival Fairfax’s Melbourne Weekly.
After the MMP publication started poaching revenues of Fairfax Community Newspapers, Fairfax Media bought a 50 per cent stake in MMP for $35m, with the Melbourne-based publishing company MMP then also taking responsibility for sales of Domain products in Melbourne.
Fairfax media chief executive officer Greg Hywood said: “We are delighted Antony will lead our Domain business and retain oversight of MMP. Having put MMP on the road to sustained success Antony is now in a position to lead Domain and take it to its full potential.”
“Antony is innovative, entrepreneurial, highly competitive and his knowledge of theAustralian real estate market is second to none. His appointment is clearly a significant industry development.”
Catalano said: “I am genuinely excited to be taking on this role. I know the Domain business very well. Sydney is a Domain stronghold and Domain continues to rapidly grow market share in Melbourne. There remains significant potential in those markets.
“Domain continues to go from strength to strength. The number of real estate agent offices on Domain grew 21 per cent during the financial year and investment inmobile apps has paid off with very strong performance. We have exposure to more than $300 million of real estate-related revenue, and we have the brand, the expertise and the commitment to continue to build the business,” he said.
Trent Casson, MMP’s general manager of sales, marketing and editorial and a founding shareholder of the publishing group has stepped up as the new chief operating officer following Catalano’s move to Domain.
He said MMP’s print and digital businesses are both growing strongly and he plans to launch several new initiatives in the new year.
“We have established a compelling digital and print presence in Melbourne’s wealth belt and in Geelong,” he said. “We have an exceptional team, outstanding products and strong market positions in each of our businesses. I am looking forward with confidence.”
…Fairfax. Not even their most creative writers could make this shit up.
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So Fairfax has a joint venture investor running its largest metro business? Next thing you know they’ll be investing in pubs and pokies!
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Is this what’s known as a live cat bounce?
Work for Fairfax for nearly two decades, earn a nice little retrenchment payout, start a competitive business, sell back to previous employer for a very profitable return, and then get re-hired into (almost) your old role….
Cat, you’re a genius!!!
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If you were write a novel about a revered business’ decline, no one would believe it if based on recent Fairfax misadventures.
Good luck to Catalano. He’d do a much better job of running Fairfax than Heywood & Co. He seems to understand that elusive principle: making money and growth are good things (even if they do boost carbon emissions)
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I think we have the new CEO in waiting people.
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“We have exposure to more than $300 million of real estate-related revenue, and we have the brand,”
There’s another brand more suited to real estate than domain called location.com.au where the increased roi for every visitor and marketing campaign would fill a huge part of the puzzle to catching realestate.com.au.
Because the word “domain” on a scale of 1 – 10 is about a 5 in regards to relating it to property compared with the word “location”. For example, who automatically thinks the word “domain” in relation to property (without having been marketed the name) compared to the word “location” which is at the heart of every property decision.
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