LoopNet Gets A New Boss From One Of CoStar's Recent Acquisitions
LoopNet, the commercial real estate platform acquired by CoStar Group in 2013, which bills itself as the sector’s most trafficked online platform, has a new leader from another CoStar acquisition.
Homes.com President David Mele has been named president of LoopNet, CoStar announced Tuesday, after having helped the Washington, D.C.-based real estate tech giant acquire his company last year. Mele is tasked with leading LoopNet's strategy, sales, product management, marketing and international expansion.
“With decades of experience, David has a proven track record of building and growing successful online marketplaces and we are confident that he will take LoopNet to the next level," CoStar founder and CEO Andy Florance said in a statement.
Mele takes over LoopNet after former President Raleigh McClayton left the company at the end of last year to take over as CEO of ArrowStream, a food service supply chain software company. McClayton joined LoopNet in November 2020 from Grubhub, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Mele came to CoStar Group in 2021 during the site’s $156M acquisition of Norfolk, Virginia-based Homes.com, part of a larger bid to expand its residential footprint. Mele has served as president of the site since 2014. Prior to that, he worked in media, serving as publisher of The Virginian-Pilot, the largest daily metro paper in Virginia.
CoStar has been reeling from a confluence of recent events earlier this year, including losing more than 40% of its value from its peak in recent months and dozens of current and former employees telling Business Insider the company had invaded their privacy and that Florance's leadership style had instilled a "culture of fear."
The company reported its quarterly earnings Tuesday, beating analyst estimates, posting $515.8M in quarterly revenue, a 12.8% year-over-year increase, and $89M in net income.
Ethan Rothstein contributed reporting for this article.
CORRECTION, APRIL 27, 10 A.M. ET: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that CoStar missed analyst estimates with its first quarter earnings. The company outperformed analysts' expectations. This article has been updated.
