Zillow is said to cut 300 staff as real estate platform shifts focus to tech hires

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Zillow (NASDAQ:Z) (NASDAQ:ZG) has laid off 300 workers as the real-estate fintech pivots its hiring focus toward technology- and engineering-related positions, TechCrunch reported Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the situation.

The move doesn't come as a surprise as the company said in November 2021 that it will wind down its Zillow Offers iBuying service, including layoffs accounting for around 25% of its workforce. On a broader note, a slew of tech-focused firms have removed staff in the wake of an economic downturn that isn't showing any signs of easing.

“As part of our normal business process, we continuously evaluate and responsibly manage our resources as we create digital solutions to make it easier for people to move. This week, we have made the difficult — but necessary — decision to eliminate a small number of roles and will shift those resources to key growth areas around our housing super-app. We’re still hiring in key technology-related roles across the company,” a company spokesperson told Seeking Alpha via email, adding that Zillow is actively hiring about 300 roles in technology and engineering.

The company's job cuts affected a number of teams, including advisors from Zillow Offer, PA sales and back-end staff at Zillow Home Loans, TechCrunch noted.

The percentage of its headcount impacted by the decision was not specified. But looking at its Q2 earnings report, Zillow (Z) indicated that its workforce consisted of 5,791 full-time employees, so, around 5% of employees have thus been impacted by these layoffs.

Zillow (Z) stock dipped 0.9% in afternoon trading and -68% in the past year.

Previously, (Aug. 5) Zillow stock downgraded to Neutral at Wedbush on gloomy outlook.