AllThingsD » homes

Zillow's Shares Double in Stock Market Debut

Tricia Duryee — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:52:20 +0000

On Zillow’s first day of trading on the Nasdaq, its shares more than doubled, soaring to $45 today from its initial pricing of $20 a share.

The company sold 3.46 million shares to raise $70 million. It will also complete a private placement, totaling $5 million, and will have the option of selling 500,000 additional shares, depending on demand.

The Seattle-based company, which aggregates real-estate listings and mortgage information, trades under the ticker symbol “Z.”

Zillow expects to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including working capital, sales and marketing activities.

The company has a history of losses, spanning the past five years. In 2010, it lost $6.8 million on revenues of $30.5 million, and in the first three months of 2011, it lost $826,000 on revenues of $11.3 million.

Zillow is known for coining the term “Zestimates,” which estimate home values. It covers nearly 100 million U.S. homes today, and has also added rental estimates. It primarily generates revenues from local real-estate professionals.

Google CEO's Advice to the Street-View Shy: The Video

John Paczkowski — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:34:15 +0000

Earlier this morning, I wrote about Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s suggestion that people who don’t like the company publishing pictures of their homes and businesses on its Street View service should move to protect their privacy.

That post was based on a “Parker Spitzer” show highlight clip that disappeared from CNN.com when the broadcast version of the Schmidt interview was finally published. Sadly, that final cut did not include Schmidt’s helpful suggestion for combating Street View anxiety. An odd omission, considering Google’s admission on the same day as the interview that its Street View cars had intercepted even more payload information from open Wi-Fi connections than originally thought.

In any event, below you’ll find the excerpt and Schmidt’s quote in all its creepy glory.

Oh, one last thing for the conspiracy minded. CNN says Google did not ask that Schmidt’s remark be removed from the broadcast version of the show. “Producers routinely make editorial decisions about what sound bites to include in their shows,” a spokesperson told me via email. “In this case, the clip was posted on cnn.com and disseminated to other media outlets and was widely available.”

Online Spending Two Sizes Too Small?

John Paczkowski — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:19:35 +0000

With the econalypse still playing havoc with global finances, holiday shoppers are behaving pretty much as you’d imagine. They’re spending less–presumably saving up for that awful rainy day when discretionary income is better spent holding onto their homes than on another Wii game under the Christmas tree. According to the latest metrics from comScore (SCOR), online retail sales slowed the second week of December. They slipped one percent, though spending was up three percent from 2007 the week prior. “After a very strong first week of December, e-commerce sales growth slowed somewhat during the most recent week,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “However, the week still managed to see a few particularly strong spending days, with sales of $887 million on Tuesday, Dec. 9 surpassing Green Monday last year (Dec. 10, 2007) as the heaviest online spending day on record. With Christmas now fast approaching, look for online retailers to continue to offer enticing last-minute deals, including discounts on expedited shipping, to spur a final wave of spending.”

And that’s exactly what consumers are looking for, according to Google (GOOG).

“We’ve seen quite an increase in queries for things like discounts and bargains and things like that,” Google CEO Eric Schmidt told “Meet The Press” this past weekend. “And we know that shoppers are using the Internet to get better pricing.”