Move.com / Realtor.com Tried to Buy ActiveRain

In a lawsuit that is detailed in today’s Inman News it was revealed that earlier this year, ActiveRain, the popular social networking site for Realtors, was about to be acquired by Move.com, the owners of Realtor.com.  At the last minute, Move.com / Realtor.com pulled out of the deal. 

The terms of the original deal are unclear, but ActiveRain is now seeking $33 million in damages and alleges Move.com stole “confidential information” and that it is using this information to create and maintain the new Realtor.com blog network. 

This is a important and possibly high profile case for Move.com if they lose. They will probably come out of it with a tarnished reputation with the 50,000+ ActiveRain members and the damages are likely more than they would have paid to acquire ActiveRain in the first place. 

ActiveRain stands to loose as well.  After all what should the members of this free social networking site for the Real Estate community think of them trying to sell out to Realtor.com.  Move.com / Realtor.com already has the reputation for Nickle and Dimming Realtors with Fees for every possible service, no mater how poor a value it really is.  Would the ActiveRain community have found themselves receiving bills to use active rain and found that consumers who used the contact forms were redirected to another Realtor if the member being asked the question was not paying Realtor.com for the lead.  On top of that, Realtor.com has started to turn itself into a lead seller of sorts, not too unlike companies such as Housevalues, or Homegain.  These kinds of actions do not sit well with many active Realtors.

Realtor.com / Move.com also has to worry about having its own ethics questioned should they loose this case.  Will the managing board of Realtor.com / Move.com require themselves to attend ethics training if they loose this case??

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