APN to boost online presence with classified site buy

APN is buying a 50 per cent stake in classifieds website finda.co.nz to boost its presence in the online classified market.

Finda managing director Shane Bradley, who founded the company in February 2004, said the APN investment had given the company the ability to redesign the website and introduce a raft of new services, such as reviews of businesses, and advanced mappping.

"We know we had a great business model that worked for consumers and advertisers, APN saw what we had done and bought into our vision which has allowed us to fast-forward the development of finda.co.nz," said Bradley.

APN online chief executive Warren Lee said the investment in Finda was an important part of its digital strategy. APN is the publisher of the Herald. Bradley said the search online market was heating up as companies sought to grab a hold of the growing online advertising dollar.

Finda had free classifieds for buyers and sellers - a key point of difference from competitors, he said.

Finda's advertising spend was $44 million last year and was expected to grow 50 per cent over the next financial year and in the last six months, users had grown to 160,000 a month, and business listings to 150,000.

Finda was like a "free classifieds on steroids" with consumers getting easy and quick access to property, car, job, and general business listings with advanced search and mapping facilities, said Bradley.

The sale price was not disclosed.