The board of Rightmove says it will “carefully consider” the latest takeover offer from REA Group, the Australian property company majority-owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. One hopes Rightmove’s directors are merely being polite. This third bid, like the last two, deserves a flat rejection.
Such a response would be consistent with Rightmove’s admirably robust stance so far – the one that has caused REA’s chief executive, Owen Wilson, to grumble about how he is “genuinely disappointed” at the lack of the engagement from the UK boardroom. What Wilson misses is that a target company is not obliged to have a cosy chat if it thinks the offer terms are too mean.
