LoopNet is the most heavily trafficked online commercial real estate marketplace. LoopNet offers detailed information about for-lease and for-sale commercial property listings, as well as businesses-for-sale listings in the United States and Canada. As of June 2020, LoopNet had more than 7.2 million unique monthly visitors. Listings on LoopNet receive unprecedented access to the professional commercial real estate community and unmatched exposure to the largest actively searching tenant and investor audience. LoopNet is designed to support connections and tours in a completely virtual environment, offering professional architectural photography, high-definition video, group touring capabilities and other tools to help advertisers achieve exposure and connect to qualified tenants and buyers. LoopNet is owned by CoStar Group, which owns and operates information and marketplace websites that attracted an average of approximately 55 million unique monthly visitors in aggregate in the first quarter of 2020.
History
LoopNet was founded in 1995 by Dennis DeAndre. Working alongside engineer Steve Midgley, the two built LoopNet into the internet's largest commercial real estate listing service. LoopNet underwent three rounds of private venture capital financing in 1997, 1998 and $20 million in 1999 from 4 real estate brokers. In 2001, the company merged with PropertyFirst.com. In June 2006, the company became a public company via an initial public offering. At that time, the company had 360,000 commercial properties for sale or lease. LoopNet acquired BizBuySell, CityFeet, REApps, Land & Farm/Lands of America and Bizquest. In April 2012, CoStar Group acquired LoopNet for approximately $860 million in cash and stock. In 2014, the company settled a trademark infringement lawsuit that it brought against Dotloop.
Legal issues
In CoStar Group, Inc. v. LoopNet, Inc., in which Loopnet prevailed, it was determined that Loopnet, as an operator of a website, was no different from Netcom, then an internet service provider, and was not responsible for copyright infringements by its users. This ruling established precedent for copyright liability protection for many websites. It followed the Religious Technology Center v. Netcom case. LoopNet demonstrated that it policed any user violations after the fact. The court did not require the company to stop future violations before they occur. Such a ruling could have effectively shut down LoopNet's website as well as those of many application service providers. CoStar unsuccessfully argued that LoopNet was an active party to the violations and thereby guilty of copyright infringement.
