Zillow’s new CEO on what’s next as Rich Barton moves upstairs 

Rich Barton, Zillow's co-founder and two-time CEO, says now is the time for longtime leader Jeremy Wacksman to "take the wheel" — a move announced today, with Barton re-joining fellow co-founder Lloyd Frink as executive chair of the company.

"This is all about Jeremy being ready, the company being ready and me being really excited to move from day-to-day operational leader to become coach and advisor for Jeremy and the leadership team," said Barton, who served as Zillow CEO from 2004 to 2010 and again from 2019 until this year.

In a wide-ranging and exclusive conversation with Real Estate News, Barton and Wacksman got into the state of the industry, open tech vs. walled gardens and why Zillow is NOT in the business of selling leads. (Note: Stephanie Reid-Simons worked with Barton and Wacksman at Zillow from 2014-2022.) 

Why now, and why Wacksman? 

Since his arrival at Zillow in 2009, Wacksman has been VP for marketing and product, chief marketing officer, president, and chief operating officer. When Wacksman became COO in 2021, most of the company went to work for him, Barton said.

"He's the one who architected the current organization that has produced so many amazing results in those three years. Not to mention before," Barton said. "Despite terrible weather in the industry, Zillow is just zooming ahead. We're growing double-digits and meaningfully expanding profit margins."

Much of the credit for that goes to Wacksman, Barton added.

What's next for Barton? 

"There's no new job, I'm not selling stock, there's no me doing anything else," Barton said. 

"Lloyd and I provided the seed funding for the company. We are the controlling shareholders together. We have always been engaged and supportive in any way the company needed for us to be, and we absolutely will continue being that way," he added.

"This is not any indication of some kind of disengagement or disinvestment."

Is Zillow in the 'selling leads' business?

Barton had a passionate reaction to this topic, saying "we are absolutely not" in the business of selling buyer leads. "We have customers that we care about all the way through from the time they begin shopping." 

Whether they are shopping for a home, getting pre-approved for a mortgage, making an offer, closing on a house or moving in, "that is our customer," Barton said. "We partner with agents to deliver the highest tech for the most coordinated, joyful experience, end to end."

"It's a trap to fall into thinking about lead gen and selling leads. That is a very Web 1.0, kind of Portal 1.0 concept," he added. "That may be what other folks do. That is not what Zillow does."

On buyer agency — and buyer education

"We are big believers in consumer empowerment and consumer transparency, and one of the principles we believe in and hear loud and clear from consumers is the benefits of independent representation," Wacksman said. "So we get really excited about a bunch of the changes coming from the settlements to help better educate consumers."

A buyer who doesn't know how the process works "is never a great thing," he added.

"Every time we have a chance to empower consumers more, to educate consumers more, that is a more transaction-ready consumer for an agent. So I get very excited about that world," Wacksman said, and he sees it as beneficial for the industry, not just Zillow. "Those are going to be higher-intent customers, for buyers agents, for sellers agents, for all agents."

On transparency, and what it means for the industry

The changes the industry is facing from the NAR settlement and other legal and regulatory challenges are "really about consumer access to information," Wacksman said. "It's about access to data and listings; it's about access to great representation." 

It's healthy, Wacksman said. And Zillow is advocating for this.

"One of the things that I think makes the U.S. real estate market so fascinating and so consumer beneficial is the fact that the industry shares all the data," Wacksman said. "That's what makes a marketplace really efficient and effective and empowering for consumers."

Tech for all

The real estate industry is fragmented, with "millions of agents and teams and brokerages out there with their own tools and processes, and it's all state-specific and it's all, you know, it's all very bespoke," Wacksman said. "That said, there's a lot of commonality, and that's part of why our strategy has been to be so open."

Look no further than ShowingTime in terms of "finding the places to really remove friction and hopefully invite a lot of adoption and usage in an open way," Wacksman continued. 

"When we bought ShowingTime and started to invest in it, I think there was a big fear of like, oh, Zillow is going to, you know, keep it for itself — and of course we did the opposite, right? We made it even more open. We pioneered the concept of real-time availability to create that OpenTable experience."

The idea is that a rising tech tide lifts all boats, Barton said. "We didn't buy Follow Up Boss and ShowingTime and build 3D Home so that we could keep it for ourselves inside the walled garden. We did it to digitize the whole of the industry because we believe a rising digital tide lifts all boats — including ours — but most importantly, consumers win."

Barton's proudest moments

When Zillow launched, the site crashed "because so many people showed up to see those Zestimates," Barton said. That was "a scary moment" at the time, but a special moment. "I was really proud when Steve Jobs demoed the Zillow app on stage at the iPad launch event," he added.

"But I guess I'm most proud of how gracefully, and in such kind of cooperative sync, the team has emerged from that dark Covid period much tighter, much stronger and much more strategically sound," Barton said. "We see a ton of clean water out in front of us."

What Jeremy has learned from predecessors Barton and Spencer Rascoff 

"One of the biggest leadership lessons I've taken from my time at Zillow is there's always going to be the unexpected opportunity," Wacksman said. "Also, when times get great and there's 35 things you could go after, how do you prioritize those and make sure that you are clear and consistent in your communication of what the strategy is so that you and the team can stay focused and can all get rowing in the same direction?" 

From the founding of the company to "the Spencer era," we've had "big eyes" — meaning big ambitions, Wacksman said. 

"But it really is about how you get the team aligned and how you get everyone focused on the same thing."