According to GeekWire, Zillow Group recently let go of about 200 employees, a move the Seattle-based real estate company confirmed was part of performance-related role reductions. The cuts represent roughly 2% of Zillow’s total workforce and were described as part of the annual review process. A company spokesperson stated the decision was “not connected to market conditions or recent business developments,” emphasizing Zillow will continue to invest in key strategic roles. The company is now led by CEO Jeremy Wacksman, who took over from co-founder Rich Barton in August 2024. Financially, Zillow reported third-quarter 2025 revenue of $676 million, a 16% year-over-year increase, with traffic to its apps and sites up 7% to 250 million average monthly unique users. The layoffs occur amidst significant job cuts at other Seattle-area tech giants like Amazon, Meta, and Expedia.
The Performance Narrative
Here’s the thing: whenever a company says layoffs are purely about “performance” and not the market, it raises eyebrows. It’s a classic corporate script, right? On one hand, it lets Zillow distance itself from the broader, grim narrative of tech layoffs sweeping Seattle. They’re basically saying, “Look, our business is fine—revenue is up, users are growing—this is just us trimming the fat.” But let’s be real. Coordinated cuts of 200 people, even if it’s just 2% of staff, rarely come solely from annual reviews. It often signals a shift in priorities or a quiet tightening of belts in anticipation of tougher times. The timing, amid massive cuts at neighbors like Amazon, is just too conspicuous to ignore completely.
Stakeholder Impact and Context
For the employees affected, the “performance” label can feel particularly harsh, even if the company promises support. For users, this likely means very little in the short term; the Zillow platform will hum along. The real impact is internal and cultural. Moving to a remote-first model during the pandemic already changed how Zillow operates, and now this adds another layer of uncertainty. For investors, the message is mixed. The strong Q3 2025 results, detailed in their earnings report, show a healthy core business. But proactive cost-cutting, even if framed as performance-based, can be read as a conservative move to protect margins. So, is Zillow genuinely just weeding out underperformers, or is it getting leaner while the getting is good? Probably a bit of both.
