Rich Barton: The Zillow CEO Taking Real Estate into the Future
The internet has dramatically changed the way people live life and do business. It has also had a huge impact on the way real estate works. While people still rely on real estate agents most of the time, the process of looking at houses has been streamlined thanks to online real estate platforms like Zillow. Therefore, it is no surprise that one of the biggest names in real estate is Rich Barton, who currently serves as CEO of Zillow.
Barton most recently made headlines because he attained billionaire status in 2020. Since Barton owns 15.8 million shares of the company, its recent success has propelled him to new levels of financial prowess. Zillow stock closed recently at a whopping $64 a share, and the reason is not hard to see.
Zillow has amassed a huge following since its foundation in 2006. By the best current estimates, the website has listings for more than 110 million homes in the United States. The listings are incredibly comprehensive with details on square footage, recent renovations, local school districts and more. As of 2009, the company expanded its offerings to also include rental homes. Currently, around 36 million people visit Zillow on a monthly basis.
With this much usage, there is no question that Zillow is an important part of how the modern world understands real estate. What most people do not realize is that Barton's path to real estate success has been somewhat different than most. In fact, before his Zillow venture, Barton was more focused on the travel industry. Starting in the 1990s, Barton was employed at Mircosoft. Here, with a degree in general engineering and industrial economics from Stanford, he helped create Expedia.
Expedia is a travel booking database that helps users book trips online for increased access. With Expedia's instant success, Barton was able to spin out the company in 1999. He has also worked to launch major online networking sites like Glassdoor in 2007 and Trover in 2010. His entrepreneurial skills are so established that he was honored as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship under President Obama.
His shift to real estate did not stem from his business background. Instead, he became interested in improving the process after buying a home for himself. The process was difficult and fraught with challenges. Given his problem-solving mindset, Barton believed there were ways to improve the process. The more he considered these options, the more he realized that there were actionable steps he could take. Thus, the idea for Zillow was born. By 2006, Barton had officially launched Zillow, and the company has not looked back.
For four years, Barton oversaw Zillow to new levels of growing success. In 2010, he relinquished his position as CEO to another co-founder of the company, but he stayed involved as executive chairman while he focused on other projects. It was 2019 when Barton made his play back into the role of CEO, and in this position, he has helped the company venture into new territory with ibuying or house flipping. The transition has not been easy, but Barton's foresight and determination have supported the company's purchase of 6,511 homes. Of those homes, 4,313 were sold again for a total profit of $1.4 billion.
For Barton, this success has always been about empowering buyers. In the past, buyers had limited access to houses. This made it difficult to manage their own search. By using technology to return this control to buyers, Barton effectively simplified the process. Moreover, Barton's technology actually creates a more dynamic process that gets buyers and sellers more excited about real estate.