History
Century 21 was founded in 1971 by two real estate agents, Art Bartlett and Marsh Fisher, in Orange County, California.
Here Bartlett revealed how they decided on the name:
We were brainstorming at lunch one day - my former VP and I - and I said the name had to sound like it had been around for a long time. My former VP suggested 20th Century Realty. I thought it would be impossible to get the name registered. He said 21st Realty, but I didn't like that. He then said, "How about Century 21?" I liked it, though it sounded futuristic. I called Marsh and told him, but he thought it was too futuristic. He wanted Green Valley. Well, we finally agreed on Century 21, and we incorporated the company.
— Art Bartlett
The company went public in 1977, and was bought out by Metropolitan Life Insurance in 1984. In 1995, the company became part of HFS, the precursor of Cendant, under the leadership of Robert W. Pittman, creator of MTV. Cendant spun off in 2006, and Century 21 Real Estate LLC now operates under its real estate franchise branch, Realogy.
In 2009 Century 21 Real Estate LLC announced its decision to transition its television advertising to additional online advertising, including media spend in the following categories in 2009: display, search engine marketing and partnerships with real estate listing Web sites.
Read more about this topic: Century 21 Real Estate
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