Global Edge released a TOP 100 of the world’s most powerful property people. Surprisingly, I am there, but with Sir Les Flatulence in brackets. He has written 2 articles and I more than 400. How does he worm his way into it?

Anyway, probably every one of these blogs will link to the article making Global Edge more powerful also. Anyway here is the link, some of the sites I read regularly.

Enjoy!

Rumours of a Google Browser have been around as long as a Google Phone and a Google Operating System.Recently the Google Phone rumours got some substance with the announcement of Android which is a mobile phone operating system that will part of a new generation of phones.

Now overnight Google Chrome was launched which is Google’s new web browser to take on Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera.Chrome is a very fast, very simple and very powerful web browser. It is very powerful in the new technology under the skin.

With no legacy code to hold it back the designers could write it for today’s applications for instance, its processing of JavaScript is lightening fast and JavaScript is the foundation of Ajax….. more commonly known as Web 2.In typical google style the browser is simple and functional to use and the features it does have it does very very well.

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The Chairman of the REA Group, Richard Freudenstein, today announced the appointment of Greg Ellis as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer. Ellis is currently Marketing Director Asia Online Services for Microsoft. He will take on the new role on Monday, 8 September. (more…)

The new REA CEO looks likely to be announced this week. I have had a number of people send me emails as to who they think it is going to be.

Can they keep the growth going at the same clip? Will they simply be a News Ltd puppet? Will it be a woman? Tell me who you think it could be and why!

REA Group today announced the departure of CEO and Managing Director - Simon Baker, effective immediately. Chief Financial Officer Georg Chmiel has been appointed as acting CEO until a replacement is announced.

This comes as a little bit of a shock, I honestly thought Simon would be around until he was poached by another company. The Chairman of REA Group Richard Freudenstein said,

“Over the past seven years REA has grown from a single Australian website into a world-leading online property company, with operations in 10 countries and publishing 22 websites and 8 print publications. Now the Board feels it is time for new leadership to take the business to the next level. The Board would like to thank Simon for his contribution to this success and we wish him well in his future endeavours.”

This announcement comes on top of some pretty impressive results. REA’s results for the fiscal year ended in June are astonishingly good.

- Revenue of between $152 million and $156 million (up by 41% to 46%)
- EBITDA of between $35 million and $37 million (up by 49% to 57%)
- More than 22,400 paying agents as at 30 June 08 (up by 5,400 paying agents from 30 June 07)

The New Replacement
Well if you look at the above figures, it is a pretty big ask. My guess if the board want to continue with this growth, then the next CEO will last less than 12 months, as I cannot see that % of growth continuing.

Simon Baker
I have dealt with Simon Baker on a number of occasions over the years and whilst we disagreed on a range of issues, he has always been available for a chat. I wish him well in his future endeavours. He will have leave big shoes and even higher expectations for his successor.