Approximately 5% of Zillow’s workforce have been let go as the company shifts its focus towards technology, according to a new report published Wednesday.
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Listings giant Zillow has laid off 300 employees as it shifts attention towards technology related roles, according to reports.
TechCrunch reported Wednesday that 300 employees, including those working in Zillow Offer advisers, PA sales, back-end staff at Zillow home loans and Zillow Closing Services had been laid off.
“As part of our normal business process, we continuously evaluate and responsibly manage our resources as we create digital solutions to make it easier for people to move,” a Zillow spokesperson said in a statement to Inman. “This week, we have made the difficult — but necessary — decision to eliminate a small number of roles and will shift those resources to key growth areas around our housing super-app. We’re still hiring in key technology-related roles across the company.”
The company did not reveal what percentage of its staff were affected by the cuts, but its most recent earnings report filed with the Securities Exchange Commission lists the company as having 5,791 full-time employees, meaning roughly 5 percent of its staff would have been let go. The company is currently hiring for about 300 tech and engineering related roles, a spokesperson for the company pointed out.
The Wednesday announcement represents the biggest round of layoffs at the proptech giant since it fired 2,000 employees in Nov. 2021 after shutting down its short-lived iBuying operation.
The cuts also add to a running tally that has seen thousands of real estate workers forced out of their jobs this year. The layoffs began in the spring as mortgage rates began spiking, which subsequently cooled consumer demand for loans. However, in recent months, layoffs have spread to brokerages such as Compass, franchisors including Keller Williams and RE/MAX, and other companies including Pacaso and Redfin.
In just the past several days, Side and Roofstock have also both laid off workers.
In Zillow’s case, the company is contending not only with a sputtering housing market, but also with existential questions over the firm’s future trajectory. In recent years company leaders have touted a “Zillow 2.0” agenda that is designed to evolve the portal beyond just consumers search and agent lead generation. IBuying was a centerpiece of that agenda.
The demise of Zillow Offers, however, has forced the company to pivot. And in recent months Zillow has struck up a partnership with iBuyer Opendoor, tweaked its Premier Agent program and debuted a variety of different technologies.
The company has also begun touting its so-called super app as a key part of its new direction. Company leaders have touted the app as a kind of all-in-one tool. Back in March, Zillow President Susan Daimler specifically said the app will present consumers with “the right offering at the right time” and ultimately “give you all the optionality to put together your move, your transaction, with all the other offerings that we have.”
It remains to be seen how such efforts might resonate over the long term. But so far, investors apparently haven’t given up on the company; though Zillow stock is down with much of the rest of the market, its share price isn’t currently hovering near all-time lows like some other big real estate firms.
Update: This post was updated after publication with additional background and context.
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