{"id":14816,"date":"2011-07-15T14:09:36","date_gmt":"2011-07-15T21:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=14816"},"modified":"2011-07-15T14:10:24","modified_gmt":"2011-07-15T21:10:24","slug":"regarding-the-zillow-com-ipo-since-when-is-a-seven-year-old-company-with-really-no-large-scale-growth-prospects-that-has-lost-money-every-single-year-on-revenue-less-than-45-millionyear-worth-hal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/14816\/regarding-the-zillow-com-ipo-since-when-is-a-seven-year-old-company-with-really-no-large-scale-growth-prospects-that-has-lost-money-every-single-year-on-revenue-less-than-45-millionyear-worth-hal\/","title":{"rendered":"Regarding the Zillow.com IPO: “Since when is a seven year old company with really no large scale growth prospects that has lost money every single year on revenue less than $45 million\/year worth half a billion dollars? Am I missing something?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The question comes from a comment to a post at Seattle-based start-up blog, GeekWire<\/em><\/a>. The news? Zillow.com is bumping the per-share price on its forthcoming IPO to as high as $18, up from the $12-$14 range it started with when the public offering was announced.<\/p>\n

I like that question, because it parallels one of my own: What, precisely, can Zillow hope to do — other than provide big paydays for its VCs and founders — with $71 million in new funding? Which parts of the site will require that much build-out?<\/p>\n

My take: The web-tech IPO craze that’s going on right now is just the next phase in the rape-the-rubes strategy Wall Street has pursued since internet start-ups came on the scene in the late ’90s. There is plenty of money to be made churning the stock of “businesses” that, in the end, all amount to MySpace.com — all hype, no actual value.<\/p>\n

What’s the name for that phenomenon…? Oh, yes — a bubble.<\/p>\n

The good news: Cynthia Pang Nowak, formerly Redfin.com’s queen-bee PR geek, is now signed on with Zillow. While she may be both the smartest and most breathtakingly beautiful woman on the Puget Sound, it remains to be seen if she can answer the BloodhoundBlog question: What would David Gibbons do?<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, GeekWire.com<\/a> deserves your daily attention. Run by Todd Bishop and John Cook, formerly the start-up reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer<\/em> and a long-time friend of BloodhoundBlog, it’s kind of like TechCruch in the rain — but without the bluster and hyperbole. The daily email digest is quick way to keep up with the wired side of our world.<\/p>\n

But: Am I all wet? Does Zillow.com look like a buy to you at $18? Can it go to $36? To $180? To $0.01? I like the people who work there, and the founders have been very good to us from the beginning. But I’ve never seen the value of Zillow.com, except as an advertising play, and I still don’t. As with the comment quoted above, am I missing something?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The question comes from a comment to a post at Seattle-based start-up blog, GeekWire. The news? Zillow.com is bumping the per-share price on its forthcoming IPO to as high as $18, up from the $12-$14 range it started with when the public offering was announced. I like that question, because it parallels one of my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[379,5,19,25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-innovation","7":"category-real-estate","8":"category-technology","9":"category-zillowcom","11":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3460,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3460\/there-arent-enough-advertising-dollars-for-zillowcom-to-go-ipo-but-adding-google-street-view-makes-the-site-a-little-more-useful\/","url_meta":{"origin":14816,"position":0},"title":"There aren’t enough advertising dollars for Zillow.com to go IPO, but adding Google Street View makes the site a little more useful","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"So far, in 30 months since Zillow.com launched, precisely one client has shown me a Zestimate. I mention the site all the time, just as a matter of casual conversation, but only the INTx types know what the hell I'm talking about. Last night on the the phone with Brian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2230,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2230\/call-it-by-its-right-name-its-friday-afternoon-real-estate-gossip\/","url_meta":{"origin":14816,"position":1},"title":"Call it by its right name: It’s Friday-afternoon real estate gossip","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Glenn Kelman wonders a little too self-revealing about the hype motivating serial entrepreneurs. Guy Kawasaki jumps to exactly the wrong conclusion, asserting that VC funds are wasted if a start-up's founders have conquered their acne. And Marlow Harris wonders if the whole thing is simply Kelman campaigning for his next\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":580,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/580\/zillowcom-shade-down-creeping-disclaimerism-as-a-subject-changing-gambit\/","url_meta":{"origin":14816,"position":2},"title":"Zillow.com shake-down: Creeping disclaimerism as a subject-changing gambit . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Whatever. Just don't pay them off. The issue is a lot bigger than Zillow.com, and Net Exceptionalism is too important an idea to be squandered. Even if you don't know who your friends are, I will hang with you if you will hang tough... Our story so far:Welcome to Race\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":575,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/575\/zillowcom-shake-down-this-is-the-first-shoe-dropping\/","url_meta":{"origin":14816,"position":3},"title":"Zillow.com shake-down: This is the first shoe dropping . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"John Cook, Seattle Post-Intelligencer:Zillow has contacted the NCRC, and the two plan to meet soon, Berenbaum said. He expressed confidence that they can resolve the issues in a way that benefits the entire home valuation industry.Actually, the complaint made me think that Yahoo.com is going to have to cough up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":589,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/589\/the-zillowcom-shake-down-preparing-for-the-denouement\/","url_meta":{"origin":14816,"position":4},"title":"The Zillow.com shake-down: Preparing for the denouement . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Via Matrix, The New York Times:Zillow.com, the Web site that provides free home valuations, has been accused by a coalition of community activist groups of undervaluing the homes in black and Latino neighborhoods.The headline of the story: \"A Home Valuation Web Site Is Accused of Discrimination.\" I said the headline\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":591,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/591\/the-zillowcom-shake-down-the-piling-on-begins-and-spencer-tracy-is-nowhere-to-be-found\/","url_meta":{"origin":14816,"position":5},"title":"The Zillow.com shake-down: The piling on begins — and Spencer Tracy is nowhere to be found . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Zillow news since the New York Times story broke: Zillow.com accused of helping predatory lenders Zillow.com: So bad it ought to be banned? Zillow Faces Minority Complaint: Rights watchdog group prepares charge that real estate site undervalues homes of non-whites Zillow.com accused of discrimination in home valuations FTC complaint filed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14817,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14816\/revisions\/14817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}