Simon Baker
While I was on vacation, Simon Baker, the main investor at Homethinking.com, was unceremoniously removed from his post as CEO of the REA Group by his board (mainly News Corp cronies). It is hard to put into words just how much respect Simon had among REA Group employees. If there ever was a model of a CEO, Simon has been it from my narrowed view of the world. News Corp made a stupendously bad blunder but they did get 7 good years from him. As evidence of the goodwill, Simon visited the European offices of the companies on his own dime to say goodbye to all his former cohorts.
He’s maintining his personal blog with more frequency and also started a global property analysis blog. For the best, here is his take on Rightmove (leading site in the UK) and all the bad news that has been priced into the stock. I completely agree: There is such a number 1 premium in classifieds markets (Simon spent the best part of his time trying to bridge the gap between propertyfinder.com and Rightmove in the last few years) that at some point there will be an excellent buying opportunity in Rightmove. Probably not now while England drowns in bad housing news and overreacts to it, but likely soon.
Indeed, the same theory and logic can be said for eBay.
