Homestore.com Acquiring Move.com in $761-Million Stock Deal

Online real estate information provider Homestore.com Inc. will acquire Move.com for about $761 million in a stock deal.

Move.com is Cendant Corp.’s real estate portal unit.

Under the terms of the deal, expected to close within six months, Thousand Oaks-based Homestore.com said it will exchange about 26.3 million of its common shares.

Cendant agreed to a 10-year standstill agreement, which prohibits it from acquiring additional Homestore.com common shares.

Cendant also agreed to restrictions on selling its Homestore.com shares.

The buy will combine both sites under the Homestore.com brand and integrate Cendant’s Move.com, apartment locater Rent Net, direct-marketing company Welcome Wagon, and other Move.com Web sites into Homestore.com’s various sites.

Homestore.com operates several real estate-related sites such as Realtor.com and HomeBuilder.com.