Zillow has laid off about 300 employees as part of a shift towards technology-related roles, affecting 5% of its workforce, following a similar reduction in staff the previous year, amid a broader trend of workforce reductions in the tech industry
Zillow recently downsized its workforce by approximately 300 employees as part of a strategic shift towards technology-focused roles within the company.
Zillow is an online real estate marketplace based in Seattle, known for providing a platform to buy, sell, and rent properties.
This isn’t the first time Zillow has reduced its staff. In November of the previous year, the company announced a significant layoff, affecting roughly 2,000 employees, which was around 25% of its workforce. This decision was prompted by the discontinuation of its home-buying service, Offers, which aimed to provide instant home offers to sellers.
The decision was communicated to affected employees in Seattle, where the company is headquartered. These employees were asked to leave the company following the announcement.
The layoffs impacted various teams, including Zillow Offer advisors, PA sales, back-end staff at Zillow Home Loans, Zillow Closing Services, and others.
In a statement, a Zillow spokesperson explained, “As part of our regular business operations, we continuously assess and prudently manage our resources as we develop digital solutions to simplify the process of relocating. This week, we made the difficult but necessary decision to eliminate a small number of roles and reallocate those resources to support the growth of our housing super-app in key technology-related positions. We continue to hire for important technology roles across the organization.”
While the company did not disclose the exact percentage of its workforce affected by these layoffs, its last quarterly report in August indicated a total of 5,791 full-time employees. Based on this figure, the layoffs affected approximately 5% of the workforce.
Zillow’s recent workforce reduction is part of a larger trend in the tech industry during the current economic slowdown. Other companies like Cerebral, a telehealth unicorn, also downsized their workforce by 20% to enhance operational efficiency.
Additionally, well-known firms such as Netflix, Momentive Global, Spotify, and Tencent have recently made similar workforce adjustments.
