Rightmove's Reckoning

Yes, I did put out a cheeky video regarding Rightmove’s share price plummet on Friday – coming in the same week as we launched the MyPorta brand – but my 'AI Mal' video was somewhat rushed (I was about to arrive at the excellent Voice Of The Agent conference where I was presenting to a wonderful crowd of agents all about AI and the consumer).

So, this weekend, I wanted to take a more thoughtful look at what spooked Rightmove’s investors so badly – and where they might go from here.

The core driver of the sell-off – which at one point hit nearly -30% before stabilising at a still-astonishing -12% - was CEO Johan Svanstrom's announcement of a raft of new AI products and services that he intends to build for RM's team, its agents and consumers. In 2025, this is hardly lacking in sense – pretty much every earnings’ call and investor presentation features the first- and third- vowel an astonishing amount of times. But the profile of this particular company – and its very particular investors – is different.

There are virtually no other businesses, listed on stock exchanges anywhere, that have anything like Rightmove’s 70% margin. There are virtually no other businesses that have captured consumer traffic in their vertical as Rightmove has done, forcing every agent to pay eye-watering fees, and increases each year, for a product that barely changes.

And there are virtually no other businesses that have an investor base, as a result, that are simply greedy for sure-thing dividends - and ever-increasing share-buybacks each and every year. These investors don’t want Rightmove to change. They want it to carry on grinding agents for more cash each and every month. And if Rightmove suggests that it’s not going to do this as much – and, moreover, that it’s going to have to spend some of its £300m profit NOT on share dividends and buybacks – then these very particular investors get very cross indeed and decide to pull their money out.

In addition, the level of investment that RM is trumpeting in AI - £18m next year – is not enough to get those that +do+ believe in the technology to invest instead. It’s almost chump change out of its £300m profit next year – and will only cut its agent-gouging margin from 70% to a still-absurd 67%.

Make no mistake, all this leaves Rightmove very vulnerable. It is only just over a year since REA Group - backed by Rupert Murdoch’s billions - tried to buy it for £6.4Bn. Rightmove’s market cap today? £4.4Bn, a 31% drop. Should they have sold at the time? Damn right. Will REA Group come back again? I suspect that they will. And none of this will be pretty for agents …

If you are one of Rightmove’s put-upon client base, what should you be doing right now?

1. Decrease your exposure to their additional products and services; see what the difference is in terms of leads on a basic package from the higher ones they try and get you to buy. The answer will be that there is little – and your vendors only really care that you’re on there at all (for now ...).

2. Get AI literate; you can join me on this Wednesday’s 1230 webinar when you can ask anything you like – just register here. We’ll walk through what the future of property portals looks like and how you can protect yourself from the inevitable upheaval, as a riled Rightmove tries to regain its lost lustre.

3. Value your property listing content; this is the ‘gold’ that drives Rightmove’s traffic, that makes them all of this money – and it’s this that they are going to try and make sure you continue to give them. This will be what they will use all of their AI investment and power to do in the months ahead. Be ready to remove a small number of properties from the site, then more over time, as you see homes being sold in other ways (an agent told me this week that they’d sold their first one via TikTok). Vendors are going to expect you to use other platforms when they themselves aren’t exclusively using Rightmove. Start now. Weaken RM’s position - they need your content more than ever right now.

Rightmove will not go quietly into this good night. Their executives are extraordinarily well-paid to simply wake up, increase your fees, then go back to sleep again. Their bonuses are based on the share price, however. Friday will have made them less wealthy and they will be determined to climb on agents backs even more to redress this - and reclaim their millions.

The overriding takeaway is that which AI Mal articulated on Friday morning; this is a big moment. Rightmove’s ‘forever growth’ is no longer guaranteed. It’s time we all worked together to make sure that this shock share fall becomes permanent – and further decreases embedded.

Join me Wednesday and let’s get to work …