By Amy-Jo Crowley and Svea Herbst-Bayliss
LONDON/NEW YORK, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Activist investor Sachem Head is pressing UK online property listing company Rightmove to consider a sale and talk with interested buyers, four people familiar with the matter said, fanning speculation of a possible takeover two years after the company’s board rejected a bidder.
New York-based Sachem Head, the $7 billion hedge fund founded by Scott Ferguson in 2013, built a stake in Rightmove over the summer and now owns a roughly 9% stake, one of the people said. That would make it the company’s largest shareholder, according to LSEG data.
Rightmove’s shares have dropped some 36% from their peak in August 2025 even as London’s FTSE 100 index has gained 18% during that time, giving activist investors a possible reason to press for a sale.
Sachem Head has engaged with Rightmove’s board, said two of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.
A representative for Sachem Head declined to comment and Rightmove has not responded to a request for comment.
Sachem Head, one of the industry’s most successful activist investors, tends to work with target companies out of the limelight and its pressure on Rightmove to consider a sale has not been reported. Previously Sachem Head has been active in pushing for sales at certain companies and Ferguson held a board seat at Delivery Hero which agreed to be acquired by Uber this year.
The US activist believes there are ways for Rightmove to boost its share price, two of the people said.
Sachem Head believes that Rightmove management could increase shareholder returns by using its under-leveraged balance sheet, the people said.
Most importantly, Sachem Head is pressing Rightmove hard to review the benefits of a sale and re-engage with any interested acquirers, they added.
At Rightmove, overtures toward a possible deal failed when the board rejected Australian company REA’s sweetened $8.29 billion offer in 2024.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Amy-Jo Crowley; Editing by Anousha Sakoui and Susan Fenton)
