Rightmove shares soar to new high after Google quits property | Letting Agent News: Industry News | Residential Letting Software | Rentman

Rightmove shares soar to new high after Google quits property | Letting Agent News: Industry News | Residential Letting Software | Rentman

Rightmove’s shares continued to soar to new highs after the announcement that Google is withdrawing from the property portal market.

The shares ended trading yesterday up 35p (4.35%) at £8.39.

The huge rise was a mirror image to what happened when Google launched its property offering in the UK. Then, the shares plunged on the news to below £5.

Yesterday, a Google spokesman said of the company’s decision to abandon its attempts to crack the property search market: “This feature wasn’t used as extensively as we would have liked, and proved difficult to maintain, so we’ve removed it.

“Google likes to experiment because we believe that’s the best way to create ground-breaking products and features that make a difference in people’s lives.

“But not every bet is going to pay off.”

Rightmove commercial director Miles Shipside said: “Rightmove began utilising Google Maps on our website almost exactly a year ago and in launching the service we underlined that we did not view Google’s real estate venture as being in direct competition with our core business.

“During the six-month period that Google have formally operated in the UK property market the home-moving public have visited Rightmove in record numbers and we have seen no negative impact on our business from Google’s market entry.