Speaking of Zillow, Mike Delprete, of Adventures in Real Estate Tech compare Zillow recent financials with other listing portals around the world.
Observations on Zillow’s 2016 results and the U.S. market
“With 2016 revenues of $846 million and EBITDA of $37.9 million, Zillow has an EBITDA margin of 4.5% (far less than its reported 17% using Adjusted EBITDA numbers). As you can see below, that margin is well-below international peers.”
Interesting perspective.
Feb. 9 Securities and Exchange Commission filing
“In December 2016, the Court granted a motion for partial summary judgment that dismissed VHT’s claims with respect to the Company’s listing site. A federal jury trial began on January 23, 2017, and on February 9, 2017, the jury returned a verdict finding that the Company had infringed VHT’s copyrights in images displayed or saved to the Digs site. The jury awarded VHT $79,875 in actual damages and $8.24 million in statutory damages.”
$8.24M to VHT. Ouch. They don’t have much luck with lawsuits do they?
But they aren’t going down without a fight.
Zillow Group plans to appeal $8M photo copyright verdict
““We have persistently maintained our belief that this suit was without merit,” Zillow Group spokeswoman Amanda Woolley said in a statement to Inman. “While we are pleased that the majority of original claims were dismissed in this case, we regret that the jury did not find for us completely on those that remained, and will vigorously pursue all options to overturn their verdict.”
