A few weeks after Zillow reported a record-high $32.9 million in revenue in the second quarter and its market cap shot upward of $3.2 billion, the real estate search and marketing company registered more than 5 million shares of its Class A common stock for sale yesterday, more than half from prominent Zillow shareholders.
How big will the Zillow leaders’ payday be and how many shares will they have left after selling those they’ve registered?
| Zillow exec, title | Amount of shares registered for sale | Remaining shares after sale | $ to be made from sale ($82/share) |
| Richard Barton, executive chairman and co-founder | 375,000* | 4.5 million | $30.8 million |
| Lloyd Frink, vice chairman, president and co-founder | 375,000* | 4.0 million | $30.8 million |
| Spencer Rascoff, CEO | 146,771 | 324,130** | $12 million |
| Greg Schwartz, chief revenue officer | 19,215 | 119,675** | $1.6 million |
| David Beitel, chief technology officer | 90,000 | 107,562** | $7.4 million |
| Technology Crossover Ventures firms^ | 1.5 million | 1.5 million | $123 million |
| Gordon Stephenson, director | 17,500* | 78,976 | $1.4 million |
Source: Shelf registration filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission *Including affiliated entities like family trusts **Spencer Rascoff, Greg Schwartz and David Beitel also have additional unvested stock options, not outlined in the prospectus, that are part of their holdings and ownership of the company. ^Jay C. Hoag represents this firm and those related to it on Zillow’s board of directors.
After the sale of about a sixth of Zillow’s Class A common stock shares, both Richard Barton and Lloyd Frink, the company’s co-founders and executive chairman and vice chairman, respectively, will maintain 40.1 percent and 27.4 percent of the voting power of Zillow’s outstanding capital stock, respectively.
Barton and Frink hold all 6.5 million shares of Zillow’s Class B common stock, which carry a count of 10 votes each compared to a share of Class A common stock, which carries one vote each.
Some analysts view insider selling as a sign that leadership has a lack of confidence in the company, but it’s not too alarming in this case, according to one analyst.
“I view the secondary from Zillow as somewhat normal course for a growth company,” said Bradley Safalow, founder of independent investment research firm PAA Research. “The insider selling is notable but has been consistent since the company went public.”
“In this particular case, Rascoff and Barton are viewed as the sharpest guys in the room, and their selling has to be construed as a sign to take profits. My guess is the stock has seen its highs for the year.”
Zillow, which announced a deal to purchase the New York City real estate listing site StreetEasy on Monday for $50 million in cash, plans to use the net proceeds from the sale of its 2.5 million shares (or 3.25 million if underwriters exercise their full option to purchase 753,522 shares) of its Class A common stock “to acquire or make investments in complementary businesses, products or technologies” and for general operating purposes.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to note that Spencer Rascoff, Greg Schwartz and David Beitel have additional unvested options in Zillow’s stock that aren’t reflected in the table above; Technology Crossover Ventures and entities related to it are selling 1.5 million of their 3 million shares of Class A common stock; and, Jay C. Hoag represents TCV on Zillow’s board of directors.
