Zillow mania: $1.7B value boost, 27K haters

Though it feels like a lifetime of cacophony, today marks the one-month anniversary of Zillow’s controversial Instant Offers program, which connects homesellers with investor bids alongside comparative market analyses (CMAs) from participating Zillow Premier Agents (ZPAs). What have we learned? Since the launch 30 days ago, Zillow shareholders enjoyed a nearly 20 percent hike in their Z holdings, a whopping $1.75 billion bump in the company’s market cap to $9.32 billion at the end of trading on Friday. Zillow Group Market Cap Chart: YCharts Crazy. But come on, seriously. Did the Instant Offers test in two markets single-handedly boost Zillow stock? No, but it got Wall Street’s attention. “With the launch of Zillow’s Instant Offers, we believe it is ramping its sell-side opportunity, which could be a meaningful driver of sustained growth going forward,” wrote analysts at JMP Securities. ‘Keep the furniture, get me out of here’ We already know that ho...