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Zillow cuts 300 jobs, citing pivot to tech

Company emphasized tech positions in layoffs one year after iBuying closure bloodbath

Zillow CEO Rich Barton (Photo Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal with Getty)
Zillow CEO Rich Barton (Photo Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal with Getty)

One year after Zillow’s iBuying exit set off hefty staff cuts, the company is laying off another 300 employees.

Zillow informed employees of the latest round of layoffs on Tuesday, TechCrunch reported. Among those impacted by the cuts were Zillow Offer advisors, PA sales and back-end staff for the home loans and closing services segments.

A spokesperson for the company said in a statement to the outlet that Zillow would move “resources to key growth areas around our housing super-app,” is pursuing a more technology-centric approach and still plans to hire for tech roles.

It’s not clear what percentage of employees were laid off on Tuesday, but the outlet estimated the cuts affected 5 percent of the workforce.

This is not the first major round of layoffs at the Seattle-based company in the past year, but the size of the cut is significantly diminished this time.

Last November, the company ended its iBuying operation after contending with a property backlog, which forced it to flip properties at big discounts.

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When the closure, the company laid off 25 percent of the staff, or approximately 2,000 employees. It also counted more than a half-billion dollars in losses on the value of homes it owned. The listings giant reported it lost more than $880 million on the home-flipping front in 2021 alone.

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The cuts in the home loan and closing services departments are in good company among real estate companies contending with rising mortgage rates sidelining buyers and cooling activity in the residential market.

Last week, white-label brokerage Side conducted its latest round of layoffs, though the San Francisco-based company wouldn’t disclose specifics. In June, the company cut 10 percent of its workforce.

Other residential firms to lay off staff in an effort to cut costs and hunker down for a slowing housing market include Compass and Anywhere Real Estate.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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LayoffsTechnologyZillow