Zillow is an online real estate database that was started in 2005 by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink. Barton and Frink were the geniuses behind Microsoft spin-off Expedia and decided to develop what is one of the largest real estate media companies in the world. There’s no question they were successful. Last year, Zillow, Inc. reported revenues around $200 million in 2013. Remember that’s $200 million in annual revenues in just 9 years of existence. For those keeping score at home that’s a 69% increase from 2012 and there doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. The business model behind Zillow is pretty simple. You’re looking to buy or rent a home you can find something on Zillow. The website has over 110 million homes across the United States. The website doesn’t just list homes, you can do home valuation, aerial views, compare homes, and more. Zillow has united with Yahoo! Real Estate, AOL Real Estate and MSN Real Estate making it the dominate player in the online game. Aside from partnering with major online real estate portals, Zillow has had it’s fair share of acquisitions throughout it’s 9 years of existence. Here’s a quick run down..
April 2011 – Zillow acquired Postlets, an online real estate listing creation and distribution platform. Unfortunately, the terms of the deal were not publicly disclosed.
November 2011 – Zillow acquired Diverse Solutions for $7.8 million. Diverse Solutions helps real estate professionals manage their brands and businesses.
May 2012 – Zillow acquired RentJuice for $40 million. RentJuice is a software-as-service company that allows property managers and landlords to list, market and rent out their properties.
October 2012 – Zillow acquired Buyfolio for an undisclosed amount. Buyfolio is a real estate and shopping collaboration platform.
November 2012 – Zillow acquired Mortech for $17 million. Mortech is an Omaha-based mortgage technology company.
November 2012 – Zillow acquired Hotpads for $16 million. Hotpads lists real estate and rental listings on a map-based web interface.
August 2013 – Zillow acquired StreetEasy for $50 million. StreetEasy focuses on New York City real estate listings of all types.
July 2014 – One of Zillow’s more recent acquisitions was Retsly for an undisclosed amount. Retsly is a Vancouver- based company that helps developers access real estate data from MLS.
July 2014 – Zillow’s most recent acquisition of competitor Trulia for $3.5 billion. Trulia is an online residential real estate site for home buyers, sellers, renters, and real estate professionals. The acquisition made Zillow the clear-cut dominator in the online real estate game.
Zillow, Inc. has had its fair share of acquisitions in the past three years. The company is now poised to own the online real estate listing market for years to come. Currently, Zillow sits at #207 on the Alexa ranking which is a product of its 54 million monthly visitors. Clearly, if you’re going to be looking for a home online you may want to check out Zillow. Not only will you find a place in the location you are looking for, you’ll have plenty of other tools that can ensure you are well-equipped to make the right decision about your next home.
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