Doctorow out as Move Inc CEO; News Corp exec to take over 

The leader of one of the top real estate search portals has decided to leave his role as CEO.

David Doctorow announced through a News Corp. news release that he is stepping down as CEO of Move, Inc., which operates Realtor.com.

Damian Eales will take over the CEO position on Monday, June 12. Doctorow will stay on to assist Eales through the transition for the coming weeks, according to the news release.

Doctorow, who joined Move in early 2020, said that he is leaving to embark on a new chapter in his career.

"I am proud of the many successes we achieved at Realtor.com since February 2020, and greatly value having had the chance to work with the best team in the digital real estate industry," said Doctorow. "Today the real estate market is experiencing new challenges, but I am confident the people of Realtor.com have what it takes to continue growing and empowering the agents, brokers and other customers to grow, while empowering consumers with confidence as they turn to us to make their dreams of a new home come true."

Realtor.com is currently the second most visited home search portal with over 18% of market share, according to Similarweb data. (Zillow is far in front with 43%.)

The future of Move was in question earlier this year when reports surfaced of a possible acquisition by CoStar. The commercial and residential giant ultimately decided not to pursue the deal, instead refocusing its residential real estate efforts in its own portal website, Homes.com.

In an interview with Real Estate News in May, Doctorow talked about the challenges Realtor.com and other portals are dealing with in the current down market.

"Traffic levels are certainly down across the industry. And that's to be expected with the market conditions we're facing: fewer listings, fewer serious buyers," Doctorow said. "Our focus as a company is not about trying to have the maximum traffic number. If that were our focus, we could do a lot of things to make that number larger. We're focused on trying to get a higher quality audience that's serious, because these are the people who will translate into active leads and help empower the growth of our customers."

Despite the company's more recent challenges, Move's revenue grew by 50% during Doctorow's tenure as the company diversified into rentals, new homes and seller markets. In 2022, the average monthly unique visitors reached more than 100 million.

"We are all very grateful to David for the many ways he helped grow Realtor.com, including through the acquisition and integration of key assets, the launch of innovative products, the expansion of offerings in rentals and new construction, and the development of sell-side products," said Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp. "It was not long after David started that the world was thrust into the pandemic, but he and everyone at Realtor.com responded professionally, and the business managed to expand revenues and audience, gaining share despite the obstacles of that era." 

Doctorow's successor, Damian Eales, has been the executive vice president and global head of transformation for News Corp since July 2020. Previously, he held a variety of roles in the Australian publishing industry. According to the news release, Eales helped make realestate.com.au the top real estate site in Australia.