Who owns Zillow? Zillow is a publicly traded company, so there is no way to name the company’s sole owner or what is Zillow main shareholder. The company was founded by Richard N. Barton and Lloyd D. Frink in 2006 and went public in 2011. Among shareholders are individual investors, investment firms, and mutual funds. The company’s founders and top executives also hold a significant number of shares.
Currently, the company is listed on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “ZG”. Since 2015, Zillow has been a part of Zillow Group Inc., which has acquired other real estate companies since its launch. So, there is no definite answer to the question, “Who is the owner of Zillow?”.
Company History
Zillow is a real estate marketplace company that provides a comprehensive platform for buying, selling, renting, or financing homes. Zillow history started when it was founded by two former Microsoft executives and founders of travel technology company Expedia. In 2004, Richard Barton and Lloyd Frink, unsatisfied with their own home-buying experience, decided to make this process more efficient with technology, the same as they did with the travel industry. At that time, there were not many types of real estate software available, so Zillow’s approach and methodology became revolutionary.
The website became active in February 2006. The core feature at launch was the Zestimate algorithm. This automated valuation model was able to accurately estimate the market value of homes clients were interested in and help them understand the potential worth of properties they are interested in or already own. Zestimate gathered and processed data from various sources, including square footage, number of bedrooms, sales history, property location, and market trends.
Property Valuation
For several months, Zillow operated primarily as a tool for property valuation, also providing historical data for properties, such as sales history, and comparative analysis of property values in different parts of the USA. After initial success, the company started to serve other needs of the real estate professionals and customers.
In December 2006, users were allowed to put their own homes for sale or rent without real estate agents or other intermediaries. After property listings were introduced to great success, the Zillow app was launched in 2008, almost at the same time as the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. Within this platform, potential home buyers could receive loan quotes directly from mortgage lenders.
After the company went public in 2011 and raised $69.2 million, it continued to solidify its position in the real estate industry. In 2012, the company launched Zillow Premier Agent, a program where real estate agents can advertise on the platform and connect with more potential clients. In the next few years, the company acquired a map-based search platform for prospective renters, HotPads, a startup that allowed real estate professionals to get even more historical data from various listings Restly, New York real estate website StreetEasy, and Zillow’s main competitor Trulia among others. After these acquisitions, Zillow Group was created.
In 2016 Zillow Rental Manager was launched, replacing Poslets, a property management company earlier acquired by Zillow. In 2018 Zillow Offers was launched, the program when a company buys homes directly from sellers, renovates them, and then resells them. Next year, the company expanded and launched Zillow Home Loans, a platform that provides mortgage loans directly to users and advanced features like mortgage calculators.
Virtual Tours
Zillow went through the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing virtual tours and adopting a remote work approach, one of the first in the USA. In 2021, Zillow Offers was shut down due to significant financial losses and the company had to lay off 25% of employees who worked for the home-buying department. Instead, the company’s leadership decided to focus on other core services, including mortgage segment, property valuation, and real estate marketplace.
The company’s leadership announced plans to become a housing super app in 2022. This new business strategy means that Zillow would become a platform that facilitates all aspects of the home buying, selling, and renting process. Also, the company announced a new focus on integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the platform’s search functionalities, enhancing property valuation algorithms and personalizing user experience.
How does Zillow make money today? After a failed experiment with renovating and reselling homes, there are three main revenue channels: providing mortgages through home loans, revenue from rental property listings and property management tools, and ad revenue generated by Premier Agent.
Zillow truly revolutionized the real estate market more than one time and is now rightfully considered one of the best real estate apps. If you want to create a real estate digital solution as successful as Zillow, start by finding a great tech partner, such as Clockwise Software.
Who was the original founder?
Zillow founder is Richard N. Barton, also known as Rich Barton. He was born and raised in Connecticut and, in 1989, graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Industrial design. In 1991, Barton began to work for Microsoft as a product manager, his first project being MS-DOS 5.0.
In 1994, Rich Barton pitched the idea of an online travel booking service to Microsoft leadership and later founded Expedia. He brought the company public in 1999 and resigned as CEO in 2003 after Expedia’s acquisition for $3.6 billion. After this, Richard took a year-long hiatus, and then he co-founded Zillow with former Expedia senior vice president Lloyd Frink. They also bring several former colleagues from Microsoft, many of whom are still top executives or board members at Zillow.
While serving as CEO for Zillow, Rich Barton also co-founded the career community platform Glassdoor in 2007. He remained a board member until the company acquisition in 2018 for $1.2 million. Also, Richard N. Barton has served as a board member for Netflix since 2002 and Qurate Retail since 2016.
Zillow Executive Chairman
In 2010, the founder of Zillow stepped down as CEO but remained at the company as Executive Chairman. Spencer Rascoff, former Zillow’s COO and VP of marketing who was at the company’s roots and worked with Barton and Frink at Expedia, was named the new CEO. He brought the company public with great success and made 15 acquisitions of other real estate tech companies, creating Zillow Group as a result.
After an unsuccessful attempt to conquer the iBuyer home market with Zillow Offers, company stocks’ prices lowered, hitting a low point in November 2018, and Rascoff stepped down. Richard N. Barton returned as CEO, and stock prices slowly began to grow, especially after 2019 earnings were made public. However, Zillow Offers continued to provide poor results, showing growth in one quarter and losing money in the next. Under Barton’s leadership, the company survived the global pandemic without significant losses, and the home-buying division was shut down. Now, Zillow’s founder is trying to implement a housing super app business strategy and integrate new technologies to ensure that the company remains relevant and continues to grow.
Richard N. Barton’s contribution to the modern IT industry can’t be ignored, and he has received numerous awards and accolades for his impressive work. In 2002, for his work at Expedia and other Microsoft projects, he was named one of the top 10 innovators under 35 by MIT Technology Review. 2012, President Barack Obama named Barton Presidential Ambassadors for Continental Entrepreneurship. Later, in 2020, after Zillow’s stock began to grow steadily, Richard, along with Lloyd Frink, became billionaires, according to Forbes.
FAQ
Who is the current owner of Zillow?
Zillow is owned by Zillow Group Inc., which is a publicly traded company without one owner. There are numerous shareholders, and the company is still listed on NASDAQ. Zillow’s founder, Richard N. Barton, has approximately 15.8 million shares in the company. This stake was valued at around $700 million. It makes him the largest individual shareholder. Other board members and executives, including Lloyd Frink, also have significant shares.
Who founded Zillow?
Zillow was founded by two former Microsoft employees, Richard N. Barton and Lloyd D. Frink. Barton played a more significant role in the company’s processes and served as CEO from 2004 till 2010 and from 2019 to this moment. Frink is less known as Zillow’s co-founder, but remains at the company to this day and currently serves as Executive Chairman.
When was Zillow founded?
The company was founded in 2004, but Baron and Frink remained private about the company until the website for Zillow launched in 2006.
Is Zillow a publicly traded company?
Yes, Zillow became publicly traded in 2011 and remains to this day.
How Does Zillow make money?
Zillow’s business model revolves around a real estate marketplace with millions of active listings, Zillow Premier Agent program, and Zillow Home Loans. Other revenue streams include property management and rental management tools, ad revenue, and Zillow 3D Home tool for virtual tours.
Has Zillow made any major acquisitions?
Zillow acquired more than 15 companies. Most notable deals include HotPads, Mortgage Lenders of America, StreetEasy, Naked Apartments, and Tulia, the biggest Zillow competitor at the time.
Are off-market homes available on Zillow?
Yes, Zillow features off-market listings along with on-market homes. Zillow users can use specific filters and features on their platform to find these types of listings
In which countries does Zillow work?
Since its launch, Zillow has been available only in the United States. In 2018, due to the partnership with Century 21 Canada, Canadian listings became available on the platform. For now, the company is focused on North American markets, and no plans for launch in new regions have been announced.
