In what is a major surprise, News Corp has reportedly lost its most experienced real estate executive.
Media reports said on Monday that Tracey Fellows, the head of Move – News’s US version of REA Group – would be leaving.
The reports said Ms Fellows had told staff she will be leaving News for personal reasons.
She is a former CEO of REA and was promoted to run Move in the US in 2019 by News Corp’s board.
She was considered to be a News Corp insider, based on her work in building REA, a company that Lachlan Murdoch, co-chair of News, has always considered to be his success story in the family business.
Prior to joining News Corp in 2019, she was the CEO of REA Group from 2014 to 2019, Australia Post’s executive general manager of communication management services from 2013 to 2014, and Microsoft’s president Asia Pacific from 2011 to 2013.
REA and Move are the most significant growth areas of the Murdoch clan’s second listed company (the first is Fox Corp).
The digital real estate business, especially REA, generates more revenue and earnings growth than any other part of the News Corp business line up which also includes Foxtel, Dow Jones Co (and the Wall Street Journal), newspapers in Australia, the UK and US, as well as Harper Collins book publishing.
News Corp CEO Robert Thomson reportedly shared news of her retirement at a Goldman Sachs conference in the US praised her track record at the company, according to the media reports.
He noted that Ms Fellows played a crucial role in “connecting the Australian culture with the US culture” in regard to the digital real estate business.
Thomson added that she would not be replaced and that he will take on her responsibilities in the role.
“The need for someone to drive that conversation, in the same way, isn’t quite there, and that’s a mark of [Fellows’] success and her contribution commercially and culturally,” he said at the conference.
According to the reports, Ms Fellows will return to Australia from New York and will focus on board responsibilities, as well as returning remaining on the board of the REA Group.
That indicates there has been no falling out with the Murdochs – REA remains the jewel in the News Corp crown, though it will be tested if property prices keep falling as interest rates rise.
News Corp shares fell 3.5% to $24.95 on the ASX on Monday, but that was after a 3.09% slide on Friday in the US listed shares. REA shares eased 0.9% on Monday on the ASX to end at $122.89, a far more accurate reaction to the news about Ms Fellows change of business.
