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Takeaways:
- Zillow Group announced it would acquire dotloop.
- The purchase price was not disclosed. Dotloop CEO Austin Allison will continue to lead the company as founder/general manager and will report to Errol Samuelson.
- Although dotloop’s headquarters will stay in Cincinnati, the San Francisco dotloop office will move to Zillow Group’s Bay Area digs.
Two players in real estate tech — one giant listing portal and one popular transaction management tool — are about to join forces.
After the market closed today, Zillow Group announced its intention to acquire dotloop, a real estate transaction management platform.
Although neither dotloop CEO Austin Allison nor Zillow Group CEO Spencer Rascoff would disclose the purchase price, both stated they are excited for what this means for each respective company.
The acquisition “changes the way dotloop interacts with our customers in a couple of different ways,” Allison said. Joining forces with Zillow Group would result in “more support, faster product innovation and more reach by one of the industry’s leading brands,” he said.
Rascoff added that changes for agents and brokers who advertise on Zillow won’t happen immediately, but the company has long-term plans for how to leverage its dotloop assets.
“One of the primary reasons we’re acquiring dotloop is we think the value dotloop provides to brokers is significant and we are going to be looking for ways to use dotloop to further improve the value proposition that Zillow Group can provide to broker partners, and looking for ways to increase use of dotloop in the premier agents who advertise on Zillow Group,” Rascoff said.
Dotloop and Zillow Group employees were informed today, when the tentative acquisition agreement was signed. The deal is intended to close by the end of third-quarter 2015.
According to a release sent jointly by Zillow Group and dotloop, nearly 500,000 people sign real estate documents via its platform every month. And with Zillow Group representing about 100,000 agent advertisers, this acquisition could impact a significant number of real estate agents and brokers.
Although Zillow Group has made a pledge to steer clear of the brokerage space, this deal could bring the platform one step closer to new brokerage models that offer end-to-end services for real estate consumers. Dotloop’s transaction data could also help Zillow Group enhance its listing information.
Both Allison and Rascoff expressed mutual respect and their belief that this partnership will be lucrative for everyone involved — including agents, brokers and consumers.
“I’ve admired Austin as a fellow real estate tech entrepreneur for the last several years,” Rascoff said. “We’ve always thought the product was impressive, the company culture was unique and strong and very similar to Zillow’s, and the company’s mission is very like-minded — it is about empowering consumers and real estate professionals by bringing technology to this complex part of the real estate transaction. I’m excited to work with Austin to accelerate the pace of innovation and adoption of dotloop’s software.”
“We’ve had a ton of respect for Zillow’s mission and vision over the course of the last number of years,” Allison added. “This opportunity helps us accelerate our vision of empowering brokers and agents together.”