Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Zillow sued by rival Move over hiring top executive
Zillow and a just-recruited top executive were sued Monday by one of the Seattle-based company’s biggest competitors, which claims its trade secrets are threatened by the new hire.
Zillow and a just-recruited top executive were sued Monday by one of the Seattle-based company’s biggest competitors, which claims its trade secrets are threatened by the new hire.
Move, a publicly traded company that booked $227 million in sales last year, alleged that Errol Samuelson, formerly its chief strategy officer and president of its Realtor.com venture with the National Association of Realtors, “arranged to defect to Zillow, destroyed evidence and then resigned from Move without notice.” The National Association of Realtors joined as plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in King County Superior Court.
Move is suing Samuelson for misappropriating trade secrets, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. Samuelson, a Vancouver, B.C., resident, joined Zillow on March 5 as chief industry-development officer after more than a decade with Move, according to the lawsuit.
Zillow said Tuesday that Samuelson is not currently an employee of Zillow but is a consultant.
Zillow and Move are two of the top three consumer sites online for the U.S. residential-real-estate market.
Move alleges that Samuelson “planned his defection to Zillow over the course of several weeks.” On March 4, after meeting Zillow executives and deciding to join the company, Samuelson erased all memory from the laptop, iPhone and iPad he was issued by Move for business, Move alleges.
The next day, Move alleges, Samuelson told the head of human resources he was resigning immediately to join Zillow and that Zillow would issue a press release the same day. Zillow already has pocketed some trade secrets, Move alleges, and if Samuelson keeps his job at Zillow, the disclosure of its trade secrets is “inevitable.”
Zillow, which announced March 5 that Samuelson would report directly to its CEO, has not yet responded to the lawsuit.
Don't forget that no professional Realtor in their right mind regularly relies on Zillow for information about homes listed in the MLS.
It doesn't matter because consumers do. Consumers clearly like Zillow's UI and not Realtor.com's. Realtor.com has been behind the tech curve for a long time. Whatever tech secrets Realtor.com has, I can't imagine why Zillow would want them. Realtor.com is agent focused and Zillow is consumer focused.
As a prospective buyer in the market for a home, I can tell you that I prefer Zillow hands down over realtor.com. It's just ridiculous that the listings on realtor.com only sometimes choose disclose school ratings, property taxes, pricing history, and other basic (publicly available) information.
I mean, why would anybody use realtor.com anymore? It just adds so much more hassle and headache to the ordeal. Granted, Zillow's information is only as good as the sources of its data (I.e. Greatschools.org for schools, property assessors for taxes, etc), it's at least a MUCH better starting point than just showing whatever the listing agents choose to disclose, which is usually nothing.
Zillow sued by rival Move over hiring top executive
Zillow and a just-recruited top executive were sued Monday by one of the Seattle-based company’s biggest competitors, which claims its trade secrets are threatened by the new hire.
Zillow said Tuesday that Samuelson is not currently an employee of Zillow but is a consultant.
Move alleges that Samuelson “planned his defection to Zillow over the course of several weeks.” On March 4, after meeting Zillow executives and deciding to join the company, Samuelson erased all memory from the laptop, iPhone and iPad he was issued by Move for business, Move alleges.
The next day, Move alleges, Samuelson told the head of human resources he was resigning immediately to join Zillow and that Zillow would issue a press release the same day. Zillow already has pocketed some trade secrets, Move alleges, and if Samuelson keeps his job at Zillow, the disclosure of its trade secrets is “inevitable.”
Zillow, which announced March 5 that Samuelson would report directly to its CEO, has not yet responded to the lawsuit.
The Zillow Press release on March 5 clearly states that Samuelson will join the company in the new position of Chief Industry Development Officer to lead the company's real estate industry relations strategy, reporting directly to Zillows CEO Spencer Rascoff". If Zillow have subsequently said Samuelson is a 'consultant' that is clearly backtracking the words of the attached press release and indicates Zillow is concerned by the lawsuit.
Zillow may have not commented on the lawsuit but Errol Samuelson sure has in the attached video interview by Brad Inman which will almost certainly become Exhibit A in the court case between Move Inc and Zillow / Samuelson. In the interview clearly explains his roles and responsibilities at Zillow.
It doesn't matter because consumers do. Consumers clearly like Zillow's UI and not Realtor.com's. Realtor.com has been behind the tech curve for a long time. Whatever tech secrets Realtor.com has, I can't imagine why Zillow would want them. Realtor.com is agent focused and Zillow is consumer focused.
And yet the fact that Zillow's information can be dramatically inaccurate means nothing???
And yet the fact that Zillow's information can be dramatically inaccurate means nothing???
Not to consumers no and that is the problem with R.com. It is too agent centric and does little to engage consumers. What's the point of a listing portal if consumers don't go there? The numbers don't lie. Consumers prefer the inaccurate Zillow over the listing accurate R.com. That speaks volumes about how out of touch with consumers R.com is.
Realtor.com has been behind the tech curve for a long time. Whatever tech secrets Realtor.com has, I can't imagine why Zillow would want them.
I agree. Though the Zillow price estimate is often way off, lot more information on Zillow. What could they possibly want to steal from realtor.com. I'm surprised they poached an employee.
I LOVE looking at houses on-line even though I am not in the market to buy a house (but I did anyway only because I found a house that I absolutely fell in love with but that doesn't stop me from continuing to look. lol) I really don't like Zillow. I don't know why. I usually go to Realtor.com.
Cat
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
ignorance is bliss
