It was an unexpected marriage but nevertheless, a profitable one. In January, Chicago-based Classified Ventures -- represented by the Times Mirror Company, Tribune Company, and the Washington Post Company -- acquired Visual Properties and Apartments Plus, Visual Properties' online apartment rental apartment-search site. In the wake of the acquisition, Apartments Plus was absorbed, enhanced, and reintroduced in March as Apartments.com, a more comprehensive national apartment search service. The acquisition marked the entry of three of the publishing world's most powerful entities into a series of online partnerships that would combine the newspapers' resources with the exposure online media provides.

For the Tribune Company in particular, the acquisition marked yet another feather in the company's cap; the Tribune Company already owns 17 television stations, four newspapers, and an educational division. What motivated the formation of such an unlikely partnership between the worlds of print and online media?

When the acquisition was announced in January, Jack Fuller, president of Tribune Publishing Company and Classified Ventures board member, said, "This acquisition positions Classified Ventures as the premier source for the apartment rental market. Since Apartments Plus has proven technology and a successful existing business, it accelerates our ability to help publishers immediately take their apartment classified franchise online to realize their unique competitive advantages in the $15 billion classified market, locally and nationally."

The purchase was motivated by Classified Ventures' objective to strengthen the newspapers' position vis-a-vis the Internet. Already leading suppliers of classified advertising, the newspapers took their exposure one step further on the Internet. "It's not about recycling content from newspapers," says Bob Bellack, vice president of real estate for Classified Ventures. "It's about creating new content that's relevant to the medium."

As the owners of newspapers, he adds, the three publishing companies already have relationships with property managers, and by using its newspaper connections as the basis for its online venture, "we're able to provide rich 'Net content along with community information -- about schools, local politics ... things you'd normally turn to newspapers for."

At first glance, Classified Ventures seems to be a renaissance company of sorts, focusing not only on real estate but also the automotive industry. Classified Ventures' first initiative, cars.com, has been a successful one, and the company isn't closing the door on other markets, Bellack says. Speaking of the Visual Properties acquisition, he says, "we're in the business of buying businesses, and Visual Properties was a good fit for us."

Apartments.com, though destined to be more comprehensive than its predecessor, had a strong foundation already in place thanks to Apartments Plus. At the time of the acquisition, Apartments Plus had 600,000 listings as well as the rights to several key online positions, including partnerships with America Online (AOL), Yahoo! Classifieds, and AT&T WorldNet, keyword ownership -- such as "apartment" and "rent" -- on major search engines like Alta Vista and AOL NetFind, and strategic advertising positions including banners and sponsorships. Several more major distribution partnerships are expected to be announced within the next 60 days.

"There are other sites out there with more listings," Bellack acknowledges, "but they're not as comprehensive. In the end, while quantity is important, the comprehensiveness of our site saves consumers time. And the Internet provides no value to consumers unless it saves them time."

Classified Ventures is actively selling advertising to real estate companies and subsequently building ads for its clients. Representatives take between six and eight photographs of each apartment community, obtain floor plans and community information, and then post the profiles online. "We're hoping to establish a presence in all markets, but we also want to get down to the local markets," Bellack says. "For the consumers, going online gives them the opportunity to make an important decision both efficiently and quickly. And advertisers are better able to reach important consumer segments."

Other newspaper publishers have been invited to participate in Apartments.com, and many have indeed reached for the carrot, although Bellack remains closed-mouthed about their identities, saying only that yet another announcement is scheduled within the next 60 days that will reveal their identities.

The new name "reflects our mission to be the category leader for apartment and relocation information on the Internet," says Bruce Mitchell, president and general manager of Apartments.com. "Apartments.com is an ownable, memorable name that will help increase the value of advertising on our site by building a strong national brand and driving more traffic to our service." Has the name change confused any Web users? To eliminate that possibility, the new URL for Apartments.com, as well as the old URL for Apartments Plus, currently are being driven to the same online destination.

Affiliate newspapers also may link to the site to obtain increased distribution. "In order to be good, you've got to make a big investment in technology," Bellack says. "When small newspapers partner with bigger newspapers, then they can really invest in technology."

Rumors are buzzing that Classified Ventures plans to add home searches to its growing list of services. Bellack confirms that Classified Ventures is "beta-testing" a new venture in Orlando, called New Home Network, and will soon announce its plans for the housing market. At this point, Bellack will divulge that their current venture focuses on new construction; however, the company is open to pursuing existing home listings and other real estate categories, as well.

"We want to be the definitive source for consumers looking to buy or rent a home," Bellack says. "It's expected that in the near future, as many as 40 percent of households will be online. We're taking advantage of the opportunity to bring content to that expanding audience, but still reach the other 60 percent -- the non-Net audience -- that still relies on newspapers. These publishing companies are providing content to consumers any way they want to get it. Publishing companies are large and old organizations, and they've adapted to the advent of technology over the years -- radio, TV, and now, the Internet."

Published: April 3, 1998

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