MyDealBook becomes GreenPearl.com

MyDealBook.com, the social networking site geared at helping real estate professionals land clients and collaborate on deals, has a new name: GreenPearl.com.

Chief Executive Officer Ryan Slack said the name change was prompted by the New York Times' efforts to protect its trademark of the newspaper's DealBook financial news blog.

"We could fight it, but decided to use it as an opportunity" to give the site a new, more unique name. "The word 'deal' and 'my' [together] really screw people up," Slack told Inman News in December.

GreenPearl.com is a marketplace for properties, financing, investment opportunities, available space and services, and serves as an events promoter and organizer for the real estate industry in select U.S. cities. In announcing the name change, GreenPearl.com claimed active membership grew from 1,400 to 14,000 during the fourth quarter of 2008, unique visitors climbed more than 100 percent to 27,000 per month, and the total directory expanded from 350,000 to 450,000 real estate professionals, investors and principals.

"We're actually about to turn the corner on profitability," Slack told Inman News. "One thing about our market, its countercyclical. Interest in what we offer has mushroomed since the financial crisis" took off.

Green pearls "are extremely rare in nature and fruitful relationships are very similar," the company said of the origins of the site's new name, which is also a nod to the sustainability movement.

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