CoStar has integrated several acquisitions over the years, many of which occurred during Carchedi's tenure when he was CFO from 1997 to 2007. He oversaw the acquisition of 13 companies during that time.

News that CoStar wanted to acquire competitor Reis came to light last summer. CoStar's all cash offer of $8.75 per share was spurned twice though, and it eventually abandoned the attempt in November. A company spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com that CoStar is always looking at and being presented acquisition opportunities--but was not aware of any other acquisition attempts since Reis. Carchedi was not available to speak to GlobeSt.com.

Florance has told listeners on its earnings conference calls that there is "a fairly robust set of opportunities out there for acquisitions that become more reasonable as the market moves on." Discussing Q4 earnings in February, he said that "one of the areas we intend to focus on is the expansion of CoStar's analytic capabilities…Following the withdrawal of our offer last year to acquire REIS […] we stated our intention to focus on further developing our own analytics service rather than pursuing the acquisition of REIS.

"…we believe our core subscribers would value the addition of a more enhanced analytic module within CoStar Property Professional. We intend to pursue that option in the near future, and we believe it will be very well received."

According to the company's most recent earnings report for Q1, CoStar increased its cash balance by $8.9 million in the first quarter of 2009 for a total of $233.5 million in cash, cash equivalents, and investments on hand.

Instant Insights /

CoStar Creates New Position to Evaluate Acquisitions

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