SEATTLE, March 5, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zillow, Inc. (Nasdaq: Z ), the leading real estate and home-related marketplace, today announced Errol Samuelson will join the company in the new position of Chief Industry Development Officer to lead the company's real estate industry relations strategy. He will report directly to Zillow® CEO Spencer Rascoff.
As former president of REALTOR.com® and chief strategy officer of Move, Inc., Samuelson, 47, brings more than 20 years' experience in technology and the real estate industry to this important role. In addition to building and strengthening Zillow's relationships with brokerages, franchisors, MLSs and trade associations around the country, Samuelson will also assume executive oversight for Zillow's real estate business-to-business products and tools, including Diverse Solutions® and AgentFolio®.
"We're thrilled for Errol to join the Zillow family. We've long admired Errol for his leadership as well as his perspective and approach in advocating on behalf of the real estate industry to embrace and leverage evolving technology and times," said Rascoff. "We place tremendous value on fostering great partnerships and building innovative products that support our industry partners, and Errol is the right person to lead this new role."
"I'm excited about joining Zillow because I believe the company is leading the real estate industry in innovation and serving consumer needs. Equally important, I believe the entire management team truly understands the essential role real estate professionals play, is committed to their success, and wants to create deeper, mutually beneficial partnerships with the industry," said Samuelson. "We're in the midst of an exciting era in real estate, and I look forward to working with Zillow and the real estate industry to ensure that Zillow is the absolute best partner it can be. My first priority will be to listen, and incorporate the industry's feedback to evolve Zillow's technology and partnership programs."
Other industry-related services will continue to be managed by Greg Schwartz, Zillow's Chief Revenue Officer. Schwartz, who also reports to Rascoff, will continue to lead Zillow's entire sales and revenue operations across all marketplaces. This includes Zillow's Premier Agent program and advertising sales for Zillow's real estate, mortgage, and display businesses, in addition to new responsibilities to grow Zillow's rental marketplace.
"Errol and Greg will work closely together as their organizations are tightly integrated to ensure we create and deliver the best possible programs to benefit our industry partners. Errol's primary focus on real estate industry relations and B2B technology will allow Greg to invest more time building and growing sales programs in each of our marketplaces, including in our growing rentals business," added Rascoff.
Samuelson served as president of REALTOR.com® since February 2007 and was appointed Chief Strategy Officer of Move, Inc. in April 2013. Real estate trade publication Inman News named Samuelson among the 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders each of the years 2007 through 2013. He joined Move, Inc. in 2003, previously serving as president of Move subsidiary, Top Producer Systems. Prior to Move, he was director of real estate, mortgage banking, and law enforcement verticals at GTE Enterprise Solutions, and previously was director of sales, marketing and product management at MPR Teltech. Samuelson holds a bachelor's in electronics engineering from Simon Fraser University.
About Zillow, Inc.
Zillow, Inc. (Nasdaq: Z ) operates the leading real estate and home-related marketplaces on mobile and the Web, with a complementary portfolio of brands and products that help people find vital information about homes, and connect with the best local professionals. Zillow's brands serve the full lifecycle of owning and living in a home: buying, selling, renting, financing, remodeling and more. In addition, Zillow offers a suite of tools and services to help local real estate, mortgage, rental and home improvement professionals manage and market their businesses. Welcoming nearly 70 million monthly unique users in January 2014, the Zillow, Inc. portfolio includes Zillow.com ® , Zillow Mobile, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Zillow Rentals, Zillow Digs™, StreetEasy ® , Postlets ® , Diverse Solutions ® , Agentfolio ® , Mortech ® and HotPads ™ . Zillow is headquartered in Seattle.
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Certain statements in the foregoing are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "will," variations of such words, and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that the statement is not forward-looking. The forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding the announcement that Mr. Samuelson will join Zillow. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future events, and actual events may vary materially from the events described or implied in such statements. Differences may result from risks and uncertainties beyond our control including, but not limited to, obtaining any necessary permits related to Mr. Samuelson's employment at Zillow. The foregoing list of risks and uncertainties is illustrative but by no means exhaustive. For more information on factors that may affect future performance, please review "Risk Factors" described in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements reflect Zillow's expectations as of the date hereof. Zillow undertakes no obligation to update the information provided herein.
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Raymond Jones Investor Relations 206-470-7137 Dawn Lyon Public Relations 206-757-2785
