Zillow cuts more than 500 jobs as it resets its cost structure
The real estate platform's chief executive told staff the cuts were about discipline rather than any single new project or technology.
Zillow is cutting just over 500 jobs, the online real estate company confirmed this week, in a restructuring that chief executive Jeremy Wacksman described to staff as an effort to keep the company's cost base disciplined rather than a response to any single business setback.
In an internal message announcing the cuts, Wacksman said the changes were intended to sharpen focus on the company's core priorities and were not primarily driven by the adoption of artificial intelligence tools, pushing back on a narrative that has accompanied a number of other technology-sector layoffs this year.
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The reductions touch multiple divisions of the company, according to people familiar with the plan, and come as the broader housing market has cooled from the frantic pace of previous years, with elevated mortgage rates continuing to weigh on the volume of home sales that platforms like Zillow rely on for advertising and referral revenue.
Affected employees are being offered severance packages and continued benefits for a transition period, the company said, consistent with the terms it has used in prior rounds of job cuts. Zillow has trimmed staff several times since 2022, including a larger restructuring tied to the wind-down of its home-flipping business.
The cuts add to a wider pattern across the real estate and technology sectors this year, as companies balance continued investment in artificial intelligence features against pressure from investors to show tighter cost control. Zillow's stock has been volatile in recent months as investors weigh slower transaction volumes against the company's efforts to expand into rentals, mortgages and other adjacent services.