Maybe housing is not as dead as the reports indicate, or maybe a popular brand just can’t wait any longer to come public. Zillow, Inc. has filed for its Initial Public Offering. This is a popular brand that will get some interest from investors if the market holds up and if the real estate declines do not accelerate. Terms were not disclosed, but the online real estate information outfit filed to sell up to $51,750,000 in common stock. The outfit does not know which exchange it plans to trade on nor did it offer a proposed stock ticker.
Zillow is a real estate information marketplace that offers listing data about homes, listings, and mortgages. The company also allows buyers, renters, and those seeking information to connect with real estate and mortgage professionals best suited to meet their needs.
Revenues mostly come from local real estate professionals on a subscription basis and from mortgage professionals and advertisers. Revenues grew from $10.6 million in 2008, up to $17.5 million in 2009, up to $30.5 million in 2010. During those years, its unique users grew from 5.518 million to 7.611 million to 12.666 million.
The company claims to have a database of more than 100 million U.S. homes. It also said that it had 19.4 million unique users visiting its website and mobile applications in March alone, representing 90% growth compared to March-2010. It also claims to have the most popular mobile real estate applications with Zillow being used on a mobile device more than 8 million times.
The online real estate outfit has listed Citigroup as its sole book-runner and co-managers are listed as Allen & Company, Needham & Company, ThinkEquity, and First Washington Corp.
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JON C. OGG
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