The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing home-search website Zillow, alleging that it paid rival Redfin $100 million to eliminate competition in the online listing business. The suit refers to a deal inked back in February between the two companies in which Redfin allegedly agreed to become “an exclusive syndicator of Zillow listings.”
The allegations suggest that Redfin began copying over listings from Zillow instead of creating its own listings, which gave Zillow much more control over the space. The suit also accuses Redfin of agreeing to end contracts with advertising customers in an alleged attempt to cede more ground to Zillow.
The FTC went on to suggest that this anti-competitive practice would lead to higher prices and worsening terms for both renters and advertisers. “This agreement is nothing more than an end run around competition that insulates Zillow from head-to-head competition on the merits with Redfin for customers advertising multifamily buildings,” the lawsuit said.
Zillow released a statement on the suit, which was published by CNN. The statement called the previous deal with Redfin “pro-competitive and pro-consumer” and noted that “our listing syndication with Redfin benefits both renters and property managers and has expanded renters’ access to multifamily listings across multiple platforms.”
Redfin also disagrees with the allegations from the FTC, saying that “by the end of 2024, it was clear that the existing number of Redfin advertising customers couldn’t justify the cost of maintaining our rentals sales force.” The company went on to suggest that “partnering with Zillow cut those costs and enabled us to invest more in rental-search innovations on Redfin, directly benefiting apartment seekers.”
The FTC further alleges that Redfin laid off hundreds of workers as part of the deal, going on to help Zillow hire some of these employees. Basically, the agency is accusing Zillow of acquiring a large part of Redfin’s business, all while hiding behind the idea of a partnership to avoid scrutiny. The FTC has asked the court to end the agreement and consider a divestiture of assets.
This isn’t the only current legal dispute that Zillow finds itself in. A real estate brokerage company called Compass issued its own lawsuit back in June, accusing Zillow of engaging in anticompetitive practices.
