Real-estate site to lay off quarter of work force
Real-estate site to lay off quarter of work force
LOS ANGELES – Oct. 20, 2008 – Real-estate Web site Zillow.com is slashing its work force by a quarter to cut expenses and gird against the ailing U.S. economy, the company announced Friday.
It plans to lay off 40 employees Tuesday, with most of the cuts in Seattle, where the company is based, said Zillow spokeswoman Amy Bohutinsky. About 107 employees will remain after the cuts, she said.
“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,” Chief Executive Rich Barton wrote on the company Web site Zillowblog.com.
Barton said the company has “sizable cash reserves” but determined the cuts were needed to help it weather the economic downturn.
Zillow, launched in 2006, hosts real estate listings and helps visitors find competitive mortgage rates, among other features. Its revenues come from online ad sales.
Despite the housing slump, the company said it had attracted 5.4 million unique visitors to the Web site last month – a 42 percent jump from a year ago.
While revenue has been growing, it doesn’t yet cover Zillow’s expenses, Barton said.
The layoff announcement comes only a few weeks after the company disclosed it had expanded a revenue-sharing partnership with 282 newspapers.
On the Net: Zillow: http://www.zillow.com
LOS ANGELES – Oct. 20, 2008 – Real-estate Web site Zillow.com is slashing its work force by a quarter to cut expenses and gird against the ailing U.S. economy, the company announced Friday.
It plans to lay off 40 employees Tuesday, with most of the cuts in Seattle, where the company is based, said Zillow spokeswoman Amy Bohutinsky. About 107 employees will remain after the cuts, she said.
“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,” Chief Executive Rich Barton wrote on the company Web site Zillowblog.com.
Barton said the company has “sizable cash reserves” but determined the cuts were needed to help it weather the economic downturn.
Zillow, launched in 2006, hosts real estate listings and helps visitors find competitive mortgage rates, among other features. Its revenues come from online ad sales.
Despite the housing slump, the company said it had attracted 5.4 million unique visitors to the Web site last month – a 42 percent jump from a year ago.
While revenue has been growing, it doesn’t yet cover Zillow’s expenses, Barton said.
The layoff announcement comes only a few weeks after the company disclosed it had expanded a revenue-sharing partnership with 282 newspapers.
On the Net: Zillow: http://www.zillow.com
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