Talk:CoStar Group

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Updates to the article

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Hi, I would like to recommend some structural updates to the CoStar Group article for organization and clarity as now the article reads more like a list. Below I've included a suggested version of the History section - I added the subsections "Origins" and "Expansion," and distinguished the "Expansion" between the United States and Europe. I kept the original content but moved it into the appropriate subsections.

Revision proposal

History Origins CoStar Group was founded in 1987 by Andrew C. Florance in Washington, D.C.[1] It was reportedly one of the first companies that digitized and aggregated property data before the Internet was widely available.[1] In 1998, the company became a public company via an initial public offering on the NASDAQ, raising $22.5 million.[1] In 2004, CoStar Group, Inc. v. LoopNet, Inc. became a landmark case in copyright law about the role of an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in monitoring copyrighted content posted on its servers.[2] Expansion United States In October 2009, the company acquired a building in, now its headquarters, from the Mortgage Bankers Association for $41.3 million. The building sold for $97 million two years earlier, and the company claims it used its analytics data to know the right time to buy.[3] In April 2021, CoStar Group acquired the online marketing site LoopNet for $860 million.[4][5] With the acquisition, CoStar Group also acquired Loopnet properties BizBuySell and LandsofAmerica.com.[6] In April 2014, the company acquired Apartments.com for $585 million.[7] In April 2015, the company acquired Apartment Finder for $170 million.[8] In February 2017, the company acquired Westside Rentals.[9] In March, the company acquired Spanish lending information platform Belbex.[10] In February 2018, the company acquired ForRent.com from Dominion Enterprises for $350 million in cash and $35 million in stock.[11] In November, the company acquired Cozy Services for $68 million.[12] In February 2019, the company announced that Oxford Economics would provide the economic data and forecasts used in CoStar's products.[13] In June, it was announced that CoStar Group would acquire Off Campus Partners, LLC, an online marketplace for off-campus student housing.[14] In October, it was announced that CoStar Group would acquire hotel research and analytics firm STR, Inc, for $450 million.[1] In May 2020, CoStar announced it acquired online real estate platform Ten-x, formerly Auction.com, for $190 million.[15][16] In October, CoStar Group bought Germany-based real estate data company Emporis.[17] In November, it was announced that CoStar Group acquired Homesnap, a residential mobile application provider, for $250 million in cash.[18] In April 2021, it was announced that CoStar Group acquired Homes.com, a residential real estate website from Dominion Enterprises, for $156 million in cash.[19] On April 22, 2024, it was announced that CoStar Group would acquire Matterport, a 3D spatial mapping company, for a cash and stock transaction deal at approximately US$1.6 billion.[20][21] Europe In May 2016, CoStar Group's European subsidiary CoStar Europe Ltd acquired German real estate business data company Thomas Daily.[22] In July 2016, the company acquired Belbex, an online marketplace and information provider for commercial property based in Spain, and in March the company acquired Spanish lending information platform Belbex.[10] In October 2018, the company acquired Realla.co.uk an online marketplace for commercial property based in the United Kingdom.[23] In October 2021, CoStar announced it was acquiring BureauxLocaux, a commercial property digital marketplace in France.[24] In October 2023, it was announced CoStar Group had acquired the London-headquartered property portal, OnTheMarket for £100 million.[25] References "Andy Florance On Buying STR, WeWork's Failed IPO And What CoStar Buys Next". Bisnow. October 2, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2022. "ISP not liable for copyright violations even after review of content". Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. June 22, 2004. Retrieved March 4, 2022. Hagerty, James R. (February 6, 2010). "Mortgage Bankers Association Sells Headquarters at Big Loss". The Wall Street Journal. Sernovitz, Daniel J. (April 30, 2012). "CoStar Group completes LoopNet deal". American City Business Journals. "CoStar Completes LoopNet Acquisition". National Real Estate Investor. May 1, 2012. "Blind ambition: CoStar's Andy Florance opens up about competition, sacrifice and those pesky Glassdoor rankings (Video)". Washington Business Journal. August 18, 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2022.(subscription required) O'Connell, Jonathan (March 3, 2014). "CoStar Group buys Apartments.com for $585 million". The Washington Post. "CoStar makes another push into the digital apartments sphere with a $170M buy". Washington Business Journal. April 30, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2022.(subscription required) Ellingson, Annlee (February 2, 2017). "Westside Rentals finds new home at Apartments.com". LA Business First.(subscription required) "Belbex finalises its integration with CoStar Group". Iberian. March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 4, 2022. Neibauer, Michael (February 20, 2018). "Growing CoStar to close its latest buy, this one for nearly $400M". American City Business Journals. "CoStar Group Acquires Cozy Services Ltd., with Plans to Integrate its Innovative Renter Screening and Rent Payments Solutions into Apartments.com". GlobeSt. November 9, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2022. "CoStar appoints Oxford Economics as data partner for new Investor product". Property Week. August 13, 2010. Retrieved March 4, 2022.(subscription required) "CoStar buys again, this time in the off-campus student housing space". Washington Business Journal. June 21, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2022.(subscription required) "CoStar Acquires Ten-X in $190 Million Deal". Wall Street Journal. May 14, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2022. "Auction.com rebrands as Ten-X, the 'future of real estate'". Housing Wire. January 11, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2022. "CoStar plots international push with Emporis buy". The Real Deal. October 27, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2022.(subscription required) "CoStar to Buy Homesnap for $250 Million". Wall Street Journal. November 22, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2022.(subscription required) "CoStar Group to Acquire Homes.com for $156M". RisMedia. April 15, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2022. "Matterport, the Global Leader in 3D Digital Twins, to be Acquired by CoStar Group". Matterport. 2024-04-22. Retrieved 2024-04-22. "CoStar Group to Acquire Matterport, the Global Leader in Immersive 3D Digital Twins and Artificial Intelligence for the Real Estate Industry That Makes Properties Intuitive and Interactive Online". CoStar Group Investor Relations. 2024-04-22. Retrieved 2024-04-22. O'Connell, Jonathan (May 5, 2016). "CoStar Group buys Apartments.comfor $585 million". S&P Global. Retrieved March 4, 2022. Evans, Judith (October 12, 2018). "US real estate giant CoStar buys UK commercial property portal". Financial Times.(subscription required) "CoStar Group Acquires BureauxLocaux, a Leading Commercial Property Digital Marketplace in France". Businesswire. October 1, 2021. Retrieved October 1, 2021. "CoStar acquires OnTheMarket for £100m". Today's Conveyancer. 2023-10-25. Retrieved 2023-10-25.

The Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use require that editors disclose their "employer, client, and affiliation" with respect to any paid contribution; see WP:PAID. For advice about reviewing paid contributions, see WP:COIRESPONSE. hbensur (talk · contribs) has been paid by CoStar Group on their behalf.

Thank you in advance for your help in improving the article structure. Hbensur (talk) 20:35, 23 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I added an edit request template so someone will come by and review these changes. Chess (talk) (please mention me on reply) 21:16, 23 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

 Done , but there are still issues with the article, namely WP:PROSELINE. The History section seems like just a list of acquisitions, which can be converted to a list or table format (see {{List of mergers and acquisitions by}} for examples). The Criticism section is not ideal and should preferably be merged into other sections (such as History), per WP:CSECTION. InfiniteNexus (talk) 21:54, 9 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you InfiniteNexus for your help in restructuring this article! If you look below, based on your recommendation, I proposed some ideas for merging the Criticisms section into the other article sections.

Further Updates

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Following the restructure of this article, I'd like to suggest adding a "Marketing" subsection under "Business" with the following information: CoStar Group purchased an estimated $35 million worth of airtime during Super Bowl LVIII for four subsidiary Super Bowl commercials (three for Homes.com and one for Apartments.com).^[1]

Second, as per InfiniteNexus's helpful recommendation, I would like to suggest moving the first two paragraphs of the "Criticism" section into the United States subsection of History so that it reads as follows:

"In April 2021, it was announced that CoStar Group acquired Homes.com, a residential real estate website from Dominion Enterprises, for $156 million in cash.^[2] In February 2022, CoStar Group came under criticism when American news website Business Insider reported that over 29 current and former employees claimed to have been excessively monitored and micromanaged, including with unscheduled check-in video calls made by the company's IT department. Additional criticism included reports of employees being publicly berated and arbitrarily fired in some cases.^[3][4] The company also reportedly made efforts to take down criticism of itself on various social media platforms.^[3] The company denied the complaints, claiming that discontent came from the company's high expectations.^[3] CoStar has been criticized for anticompetitive and monopolistic business practices, often using aggressive litigation and "public-relations warfare" to "push [competitors] to the brink of collapse or weaken them enough to make them soft targets for an acquisition".^[5] Competitors that CoStar has sued include 42Floors, RealMassive, Zillow, RentPath, Xcelligent (now bankrupt), and LoopNet (now a subsidiary), among others."

I suggest creating a "Legal issues" subsection under "Business" and moving the third paragraph from Criticism to that new subsection.

References

1. Kamin, Debra (12 February 2024). "CoStar Group's Super Bowl Debut: Dan Levy, Heidi Gardner and Jeff Goldblum". nytimes.com.
2. "CoStar Group to Acquire Homes.com for $156M". RisMedia. April 15, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
3. Geiger, Daniel; Nicoll, Alex (22 February 2022). "Inside the mass exodus at CoStar, real estate's biggest data firm, where 29 current and former staffers say the company surveilled and humiliated them". Business Insider. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
4. TRD Staff (22 February 2022). "Employee surveillance, humiliation and exodus at CoStar". The Real Deal. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
5. Carvajal, Konrad Putzier, David Jeans, Christian Bautista and Nancy C. "CoStar Group | Real Estate Antitrust | Andrew Florance". The Real Deal. Retrieved 2024-05-05.

Thank you very much! Hbensur (talk) 13:22, 16 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Hbensur: In the future, for a faster response, add {{Edit COI}} to the top of your request. This will add it into a centralized queue for someone to come by and review it. I've added it here for now. Chess (talk) (please mention me on reply) 03:07, 19 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Merged sections, added the bit about the Super Bowl commercials, and cleaned up the entire article. InfiniteNexus (talk) 18:41, 28 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

InfiniteNexus, thank you so much for all your help! The page is looking great now. Hbensur (talk) 19:14, 11 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Updating information

Hi, I'd like to suggest a few more updates to this page. According to the Emporis page and this source, they have been merged into STR Germany GmbH and are no longer a functioning company. Please remove them from the list of CoStar Group's subsidiaries. Additionally, as part of updating CoStar's subsidiaries, please add their recent acquisition of Visual Lease.^[1] Pinging @InfiniteNexus who has done a lot of work on this article previously.

I've also made a few small updates to the infobox including removing Scott Wheeler, as he is no longer CFO according to Bloomberg, updating the number of employees to 6400, and updating the company website.

References

1. Russo, Anthony (23 October 2024). "CoStar Group Buys Software Platform for $273M". globest.com.

Thank you! Hbensur (talk) 14:13, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

 Already done InfiniteNexus (talk) 01:44, 31 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

New update

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest was declined. Some or all of the changes may be promotional in tone.

I'd like to suggest adding the following information under the "Other activities" subsection:

In July 2024, CoStar Group was sued by competitor Move, Inc., the operator of Realtor.com, for alleged trade secret misappropriation.^[1] Move sought a preliminary injunction against CoStar Group. The injunction was denied by a California federal court on the basis that Move had not provided evidence of any irreparable harm.^[2] In April 2025, less than a year after filing its lawsuit, Move voluntarily dismissed the case. Commenting on Move’s voluntary dismissal, CoStar Group’s General Counsel Gene Boxer stated, “When this transparently baseless case was filed I described it as a pimple on the elephant of my litigation responsibilities. Today that pimple popped. Move’s case collapsed and it begged us to agree to permit its dismissal with prejudice. To be crystal clear: we didn’t settle. We agreed to nothing and paid nothing.”^[3][4]

References

1. Black, Kat (5 November 2024). "California Federal Court Grants CoStar Group's Motion to Narrow Claims in Move Inc. Trade Secrets Case". ALM Law.com.
2. Han, Brooklee (23 September 2024). "Judge denies Move's motion for preliminary injunction against CoStar". HousingWire.
3. Belcher, Devon (8 April 2025). "CoStar cleared as Move's trade secret case collapses". Daily Journal.
4. Black, Kat (9 April 2025). "Latham Client CoStar Secures Dismissal of Move Inc.'s Trade Secrets Case in Real Estate Listings Row". ALM Law.com.

Thank you very much! Hbensur (talk) 14:03, 6 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Pinging @InfiniteNexus who has done a lot of work on this article previously. Hbensur (talk) 14:11, 6 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I may look into this later when I have time, but you need to add the {{Edit COI}} template at the top of your request. InfiniteNexus (talk) 16:15, 6 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done for now: Some of the requested changes are currently written in a promotional tone. Please review WP:Neutral point of view and make changes where appropriate to follow this before reopening the request. Dahawk04 (talk) 23:55, 1 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Dahawk04

I didn't think the lawsuit part sounded promotional, but the quotation by the attorney did, so I have added it without the quotation.

Feel free to edit these requests to reduce promotional language and post them directly. There's no need to create delays — we're already facing 2 to 2.5 month wait periods. Having editors review twice creates extra work for everyone. If you spot minor edits that would make the content less promotional, just make them. Yolandagonzales (talk) 23:58, 30 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Litigation section and Other activities update

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Hi, in a continued effort to update this page, I have included a few requests below.

• Adding a Litigation section, which summarizes CoStar Group's various legal cases (suggested language below):

Revision proposal

Litigation Xceligent In December 2016, CoStar Group filed a lawsuit against rival Xceligent, owned by London-based Daily Mail and General Trust for copyright infringement of thousands of images.[1] According to the lawsuit, Xceligent used offshore contractors in India and the Philippines to copy CoStar Group’s copyrighted photographs and crop out the CoStar Group watermark.[2]. The court entered a $500 million judgement and permanent injunction against Xceligent, valuing each CoStar Group image at $50,000.[3][2] CREXi United States In September 2020, CoStar Group filed a lawsuit against rival commercial real estate marketplace, Commercial Real Estate Exchange, Inc. (CREXi).[4] CREXi is a venture-capital-backed company valued at approximately $500 million in 2022, whose leading investor announced he expects CREXi to go public with a multi-billion-dollar valuation.[5][6] The suit alleged CREXi engaged offshore contractors to copy and crop CoStar Group’s copyrighted images from LoopNet, a CoStar Group website.[7] In June 2025, the court found significant evidence that CREXi and its contractors copied images from LoopNet, and that CoStar Group owned the photographs that they claimed were infringed.[8][9] In September 2024, CoStar Group obtained a permanent injunction against CREXi’s founding investor, Leon Capital LLC, for unauthorized access to CoStar’s database.[10] CREXi Contractors Simultaneously, CoStar Group filed multiple lawsuits in India against CREXi-hired contractors, known as BPOs, for assisting in the copyright infringement.[11] Those cases resulted in several judgments[12] and permanent injunctions against CREXi’s offshore contractors.[13] Move, Inc. In July 2024, CoStar Group competitor Move, Inc. sued CoStar Group for alleged trade secret misappropriation,[14] seeking a preliminary injunction, which was denied due to lack of evidence.[15] In April 2025, Move voluntarily dismissed the case with prejudice.[16] STR In February 2024, a proposed consumer class action lawsuit was filed against CoStar Group in multiple states, accusing the company of a price-fixing conspiracy in which it conspired with a group of luxury hotel chains—including Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, InterContinental, Loews, and Accor—to keep room rental prices artificially high by sharing competitively sensitive information through the company's STR reports. These allegations were based in part on insider information shared by an STR software engineer.[17] In September 2025, the claims were dismissed by the court.[18] Zillow CoStar Group sued Zillow in July 2025 for copyright infringement, including for using tens of thousands of CoStar Group’s watermarked photographs on its sites, as well as syndicating those photographs on Zillow’s partner sites, Redfin and Realtor.com.[19][20]

• Merging the STR content from "Other activities" into the proposed litigation section and removing the duplicate information from "Other activities.
• Adding the following to the end of "Other activities:"

CoStar Group has denied these allegations. CoStar Group’s founder and CEO, Andy Florance responded that “CoStar Group does not have a litigation problem. CoStar Group has a theft problem. We’re not talking about CoStar Group litigating in 10 cases over 30 years and losing them. We’re talking about CoStar Group litigating in 10 cases over 30 years and winning them all.”^[21]

References

1. Grant, Peter (13 December 2016). "CoStar Sues Longtime Competitor Xceligent, Alleging Data Theft". Wall Street Journal.
2. "Real estate data dispute yields $500 million judgment". Finance & Commerce. 6 January 2020.
3. Banister, Jon; Rothstein, Ethan (22 October 2019). "CoStar Awarded Record $500M Settlement From Xceligent In Copyright Suit". Cretech.
4. "CoStar Sues CREXi For Copyright Infringement, Claims It Stole Over 10,000 Images". CRETI. 25 September 2021.
5. Hunter-Hart, Monica (29 December 2024). "How Daily Border Crossings Helped Turn This Mexican American Into A Billionaire". Forbes.
6. Maloney, Tom (2 July 2024). "Dallas Landlord Builds Billionaire Fortune on Dental Offices, Dog Boarding". Bloomberg.
7. Black, Kat (27 June 2025). "'The Industry Is on Notice': California Federal Judge's Order Clears Path for Trial in Long-Running Real Estate Row". Law.com.
8. "CoStar Group Inc. and CoStar Realty Information Inc. v. Commercial Real Estate Exchange, Inc" (PDF). 25 June 2025.
9. Monterose, Isaac (26 June 2025). "Calif. Judge Rejects CoStar, CREXi's Early Win Bids In IP Row". Law 360.
10. "CoStar Subscriber Settles Suit Over Property Records Access". Law 360. 16 September 2024.
11. Subramanian, N Sundaresha (2 December 2022). "How some Indian BPOs are caught in a crossfire between two US realty listers". The Economic Times.
12. Sarkar, Sukanya (2 August 2023). "CoStar lands another blow in mass copyright infringement dispute". Managing IP.
13. Koenig, Bryan (6 April 2023). "Real Estate Cos. Trade Claims Of Lying, Witness Coercion". Law 360.
14. Black, Kat (5 November 2024). "California Federal Court Grants CoStar Group's Motion to Narrow Claims in Move Inc. Trade Secrets Case". Law.com.
15. Han, Brooklee (23 September 2024). "Judge denies Move's motion for preliminary injunction against CoStar". HousingWire.com.
16. Han, Brooklee (7 April 2025). "Move dismisses trade secrets suit against CoStar". HousingWire.com.
17. Scarcella, Mike (February 21, 2024). "CoStar, luxury hotels hit with US consumer price-fixing lawsuit". Reuters. Archived from the original on February 23, 2024. Retrieved February 2, 2024.
18. Scarcella, Mike (2 September 2025). "CoStar, luxury hotels defeat room rental price gouging lawsuit". Reuters.
19. Stempel, Jonathan (30 July 2025). "Zillow sued by Homes.com owner CoStar Group for 'massive' copyright violations". Reuters.
20. Kamin, Debra (30 July 2025). "Company That Owns Apartments.com Sues Zillow Over Rental Listing Photos". New York Times.
21. Bonner, Mark F.; Rothstein, Ethan; Banister, Jon (17 December 2017). "EXCLUSIVE: CoStar CEO Andy Florance Speaks Out On The Fall Of Xceligent, The Rise Of CoStar And His Personal Reputation". Bisnow.

Thank you, Hbensur (talk) 16:24, 17 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• All edits are completed. Yolandagonzales (talk) 09:29, 31 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

  Thanks for all the updates to the article! Hbensur (talk) 15:40, 5 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]