Costar
CoStar sent researchers into every office building in America with tape measures to catalog them. That physical data collection became a $35 billion monopoly that no startup can recreate. Apartments.com and Homes.com are the next invasions.
Most people think of Zillow when they think of real estate data. The company that actually owns commercial property market infrastructure is co-star group. Founded in 1987, co-star sent researchers into office buildings with tape measures and cameras to catalog every commercial property in America. That physical data collection became a monopoly worth over 35 billion. co-star acquired apartments.com in 2014 for nearly a billion, locking down the largest rental listing platform. Revenue hit 2.7 billion in 2024. Operating margins run above 25%, because once you own proprietary data, customers have no alternative.
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