Trulia inches toward going public
For months, speculation surrounding real estate media company, Trulia’s potential filing for initial public offering (IPO) has swirled, and now the company has hired JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank to manage their IPO, according to Businessweek who points to “two people with knowledge of the matter” as their source.
It became clear that Trulia was inching closer to going public when the company hired high caliber senior management in December 2011, Sean Aggarwal as the new Chief Financial Officer, and Scott Darling as General Counsel, both of whom have experience in scaling companies, signaling preparations for going public. “As Silicon Valley veterans who’ve played crucial roles in other fast-growing tech companies, Sean and Scott will immediately play a crucial role in helping Trulia navigate an exciting, new path at rapid speed,” Trulia’s Head of Communications, Ken Shuman told AGBeat.
Timing and the “quiet period”
At the current pace, it is foreseeable that Trulia could go public later this year, and Businessweek reports it will be valued at less than $1 billion, adding that the real estate media company is also working with IPO advisory firm, Class V Group’s Lise Buyer. Trulia sees over 20 million visitors per month, both Realtors and consumers, and has made great strides in their mobile technology offering in the past year.
Trulia is the last of the big three real estate search companies (Realtor.com, Zillow) to become publicly traded, and they have long portrayed themselves as an underdog, a position they may continue to assert despite going public.
Although it will become clear with any U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Trulia’s revenue and profit are unknown. When the company files for IPO as it is currently preparing to do, they will enter what is known as the “quiet period” wherein they may not make any moves or announcements that would alter the price of their stock until the process is completed through the SEC.
Trulia spokesperson, Ken Shuman had no comment on the matter.
