Greg Ellis, a recent Microsoft alum who has worked in both the online directory and interactive media fields, starts a week from Monday as the new CEO of REA Group, the parent company of RealEstate.com.au and real estate sites in nine other countries worldwide.
Ellis has been managing director of online and search at Microsoft’s World Directories unit in the Netherlands. Previously, he spent five years at Sensis, the Australian directory-and-classifieds company, and 11 years at its parent company Telstra. He was GM of Sensis Interactive; at Telstra, his most recent title was national GM of marketing strategy and planning.
He replaces Simon Baker, who left earlier this month and reportedly received A$800,000 ($687,000 U.S.) as a departure payment. Baker, who’s still the third-largest stakeholder in the company (ASX: REA), has been traveling the States recently and blogging heavily, about real estate Web sites – see http://propertyportalwatch.com/ ; his life as a CEO, http://myceolife.com/ , and his traveling adventures (with an emphasis on food and drink), at http://mytravellinglife.com/ .
“There is an excellent team in place at the REA Group and they have achieved great things,” Ellis said in the news release about his appointment.
Richard Freudenstein, chairman, said the company’s board was “delighted” to hire Ellis and “confident he will fully realize the strategic vision we have for the company.”
The company is the market leader in online real estate in Australia, with five Web sites and two computer and software businesses targeting real estate agents. It also owns or is part-owner of real estate sites in Belgium, Dubai, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand and the U.K. AllGlobalProperties.com is its site that provides information on real estate in 45 countries.
