Ten-X LLC in Irvine will be bought by private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in Boston for more than $1 billion, news reports said.
Ten-X was formerly Auction.com; it runs an online real estate transaction marketplace which brokers commercial and residential real estate sales, including hotels and distressed homes.
It’s sold more than 300,000 properties for more than $50 billion since its founding in 2007 by Jeffrey Frieden, Robert Friedman and Monte Koch.
A company press release described the transaction on undisclosed terms as “a majority recapitalization” of the firm; senior management and prior investors will keep minority stakes in Ten-X.
In 2008, Auction.com sold what was then a 50% stake to Greenwich, Conn.-based Stone Point Capital LLC via that private equity firm’s $2.25 billion Trident IV fund.
Google Capital, now called CapitalG, invested $50 million in March 2014 at a $1.2 billion valuation—a 4% position at the time.
For a May 2015 Business Journal article, the firm said employees had acquired about 15% of Ten-X in 2011, Barry Sternlicht’s Greenwich, Conn.-based Starwood Capital Group held a stake it had taken in 2013, and the cofounders were also still owners.
The current mix of investors couldn’t be determined.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
Ten-X also keeps a significant presence in Silicon Valley and has tapped tech veterans for its senior ranks.
Chief Executive Tim Morse was brought on first as chief financial officer and executive vice president in May 2014, after serving as CFO and interim CEO at Yahoo.
As of mid-2015 the company had about 1,500 full- and part-time workers which included about 650 in OC and 125 in Silicon Valley.
Thomas H. Lee invests in middle-market growth companies based in North America.
