The layoff train continues: Zillow CEO Richard Barton reports 42% year over year visitor increases and 25% layoffs. The last time we updated Crunchbase Zillow had 155 employees, so it sounds like at least 35 former employees are now looking for a job.
Richard’s blog post:
This week we are reducing our workforce by 25%. This was an incredibly painful decision for me and the leadership team, but, in the end, we concluded that we had no choice but to securely batten down the hatches as we sail into a major economic storm.
The unprecedented economic events that are playing out on a global stage began in our own industry and have made a prolonged recession likely, in our judgment. We are a young company that is not yet making a profit. Despite having sizeable cash reserves, we deemed the responsible course was to meaningfully reduce expenses, so that Zillow emerges from the other side of the recession in a very strong position, even if the recession lasts many years.
Saying goodbye to dedicated colleagues, who we have worked with side by side, is miserable. This is a group of incredibly smart and talented people who helped build and support a product they can be proud of. I want to thank these folks for their service and contributions and offer my apology for the having to make this decision. I wish the circumstances would allow us to continue having them contribute to Zillow’s success.
One of the reasons this is so difficult is simply because the business continues grow. In the midst of the madness that surrounds us, we counted 5.4 million unique visitors to Zillow.com in September, which was a 42% increase in traffic over this time last year. Fear, value-shopping, and curiosity are driving people in record volumes to our site. The fact that we have never spent any money on advertising gives me tremendous confidence in our consumer-centric product vision and in the long-term leverage in our business model (free, open access funded by targeted, relevant advertising). While our revenues do not yet cover our expenses, those revenues have been growing at a rapid pace and we will continue to have open positions in areas that are directly tied to revenue, such as advertising salespeople.
So, this is a jolting and sad week for us here at Zillow – both for departing employees and those of us who will be adapting to a smaller organization. However, given the potential for an extended recession, we firmly believe that we are doing what is painful but necessary to ensure a bright long-term future for a company that, in a very short period of time, has become an important resource and a household name for all those interested in homes.
here comes another bubble ………….
really…? with $87M in funding you’d think they could afford to keep them on… ohhh wait.. bonuses i forgot
@silicon valley dropout i agree…!
I like Russian TV news these days: financial crisis? what financial crisis? In America? Yes, they are falling apart. But we are stable country and have a lot of cash. We are stable, we are stable, we are stable …
Give me please Russian TV news, I want more!!!
laying off people = exposure on techcrunch = viewed by lots of people = save money = gain users = new marketing plan….genius..
The gebadia just laid off his cat…sorry Simaris…time for you to go…shoot I don’t have a business….and now no cat
Trulia is next. Oh! I almost forgot to mention, in case the folks at Trulia didn’t tell you, they are really really smart people. Super smart. Ok? Great!
wow layoff week at techcrunch, this sucks.
layoff whores
this company has always been about smoke and mirrors and now their comeuppance — I love it!
if you worked their you’d know that’s not true. this is nothing to revel in. some decent people are unemployed now in an economy that has taken a nosedive.
Who cares (after the nth post).. Make a sister site for these kind of posts instead of clogging the site with them.
i know some ex-Zillow people. They do not believe the susbstance matches the hype machine around the company. Nor does the revenue match the headcount.
techcrunch should jump on the bandwagon and fire someone too. Think of the exposure!
It makes me glad that we contracted out much of our development to keep our headcount low to begin with. Ironically, that is actually getting cheaper now…
It is actually 40 full timers. I am one of them.
ZS I was wondering in what areas of Zillow the layoffs occured?
Too bad about the layoff. Zillow was one of the shining stars of the Seattle marketplace. But there are many great companies in Seattle that I am sure would love a shot at this let go talent.
For a list of Seattle-based tech companies with location and contact information, check out http://www.thewebwar.com – a very useful resource site.
Boris
As a Seattle area Realtor, I’m still trying to figure out what the company is all about, Boris. Transparency is their mantra, but the data is often inaccurate, doing a disservice to the consumer. I hope they find their true business model as I would love to see them succeed. My thoughts are with those who were laid off and I do hope they are able to find other employment.
Spencer from Zillow here.
Debra,
Thanks for your comment, and hopefully you’ll find lots of ways to use Zillow to win more business. Please consider reading these two posts to learn more:
http://activera...-Can-Use-Zillow
http://activera...r-Name-For-Free
thank you
Applying the new iPhone VC doublespeak decoder app to Barton’s speech produced the following:
“It is with contempt and disdain for the pleebs that I make the inevitable decision to jettison you the dedicated peons who have toiled to make Zillow the company it is– for me. A company that was able to sock away some 90M in venture cash reserves. Yes, you the little 40 FTEs who toiled hard and long, who helped build the valuation for we — the founders — we are tossing yer sorry asses off the boat. You see, we hired you only for your ability to make us rich. And you served at our pleasure. You clearly fell for the ruse. Sure, we promised you free lunch and soda. In exchange, we asked that you work 90+ hours a week. We the founders nattered on and on about a TEAM CULTURE in order to secure your undying loyalty. We even let you bring your dogs into work. And I hate dogs. We the founders talked about the TEAM as a fighting unit primarily as a way to thwart you from leaving to Trulia. We the founders honored our promises. Until of course we changed our minds and stabbed you in the back. Yes, the tough economic times are hitting us all — unequally of course. I might be forced to ground my second Gulfstream V. But the real reason why we are throwing you to the sharks is that it is our chance to claw back your unvested stock and bonues so that we can secure an E, F & G round of funding. Please believe me when I say I am certain that it is in MY best interest as a share holder. I am sure you can understand this. The coming months ahead will likely be hard ones for you. While you are unable to make your mortgage payments and your families are falling apart — keep this in mind: if the company succeeds, I succeed. And if I succeed, YOU SUCCEED. Got that? Someday after you are bankrupt, divorced and in prison for prostituting your children you might come to thank me for this free lesson in free market situational ethics and contingent morality.
Sincerely,
Richard “The Fink” Barton
People always hate to talk about when they are laid off. But as it has become every day’s news headline since Yahoo started it with cutting 1500 of its task force last year, now a need of platform has been in demand where people can express their selves in words how they are feeling about their company, whey the got laid off was that justified or not.
And every thing they want to tell anonymously.And http://www.layoffgossip.com is providing you that platform.