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Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Risk Factor Summary
Below is a summary of the principal factors that make an investment in Zillow Group speculative or risky. This summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Additional discussion of the risks summarized in this risk factor summary, and other risks that we face, can be found below, after this summary, and should be carefully considered, together with other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) before making an investment decision regarding Zillow Group, including investment in our Class A common stock or Class C capital stock.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry:
•The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our business and may continue to impact our business depending on the magnitude, duration, and severity of the pandemic and actions taken by governments, businesses, and individuals in response to the pandemic and the availability and widespread distribution and use of effective vaccines.
•Our business may be impacted by the current and future health and stability of the economy and residential housing market, including any extended slowdown in the real estate markets as a result of COVID-19.
•Our business could be harmed if our real estate partners reduce or end their advertising spending with us or if we are unable to effectively manage advertising inventory or pricing.
•Zillow Offers is an unproven business model that relies on our ability to accurately value homes and manage inventory, depends on access to desirable inventory and our ability to expeditiously sell inventory, relies on third parties to renovate and repair homes before resale, and homes we buy may decline in value and result in inventory write downs.
•We may not be able to establish or maintain relationships with listing and data providers.
•If we do not comply with MLS rules and requirements, our use of listings data may be restricted.
•Our success depends on our ability to continue to innovate and compete successfully to attract customers and real estate partners.
•Zillow Home Loans may be unable to obtain or maintain sufficient financing to fund its origination of mortgages, may not meet customers’ financing needs with its product offerings, may not be able to continue to grow its mortgage origination business, depends on United States government-sponsored entities and government agencies, operates in a highly regulated industry, and may be impacted by interest rate fluctuations.
•Natural disasters and catastrophic events may harm our business.
•If our data integrity suffers harm, our business may suffer and we may be held liable.
•Pending or future litigation may harm our business.
•Our success depends on attracting and retaining a highly skilled workforce.
•Acquisitions, investments, strategic partnerships, capital-raising activities, or other corporate transactions or commitments by us or our competitors could harm our business;
•Our fraud detection processes and information security systems may not be effective.
•We are subject to multiple risks related to accepting credit and debit card payments.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
•If our security measures or technology systems are compromised or there is any significant disruption in service on our platforms or in our network, we may suffer significant losses and our business may be harmed.
•We rely on third-party services to support critical functions of our business.
•We may be involved in costly intellectual property disputes and may be unable to adequately protect our intellectual property.
•We may be unable to adequately protect or continue using our intellectual property or prevent others from copying, infringing upon, or developing similar intellectual property.
•Confidentiality agreements with employees may not prevent disclosure of our proprietary information.
Risks Related to Regulatory Compliance and Legal Matters
•If we fail to comply with laws and regulations or to obtain or maintain required licenses, our business and operations could be harmed.
•We may be involved in proceedings that may result in adverse outcomes.
Risks Related to Our Financial Position
•We have incurred significant operating losses in the past and may not be profitable over the long term.
•We may not be able to pay our substantial debt, settle conversions of our senior convertible notes, or repurchase our senior convertible notes upon a fundamental change.
•Credit and debt facilities for Zillow Offers and Zillow Home Loans may subject us to interest rate risk and include provisions that may restrict our operating activities and harm our liquidity.
•We may not be able to raise additional capital on acceptable terms, or at all.
•Real or perceived inaccuracies in assumptions, estimated and data used to calculate our business metrics may harm our business or reputation.
•We expect our results of operations to fluctuate quarterly and annually.
•We could be subject to additional income tax liabilities and our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards and other tax attributes may be limited.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common and Capital Stock Instruments
•Our Class A common stock and Class C capital stock prices may be volatile and their value may decline.
•The structure of our capital stock concentrates voting control with our founders.
•Future sales of our stock could cause our stock price to decline.
•Securities or industry analyst research and reports may affect our stock price and trading volume.
•Any additional equity securities or convertible debt we issue may dilute shareholders’ investments.
•Currently outstanding and future use of capped call transactions may affect the value of our outstanding senior convertible notes and our Class C capital stock.
•Anti-takeover provisions could prevent the acquisition of us, limit shareholders’ ability to affect management, and affect the price of our stock.
Our business is subject to numerous risks. You should carefully consider the following risk factors, as any of these risks could harm our business, results of operations, and future financial performance. Recovery pursuant to our insurance policies may not be available due to policy definitions of covered losses or other factors, and available insurance may be insufficient to compensate for damages, expenses, fines, penalties, and other losses we may incur as a result of these and other risks. In addition, risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. If any of these risks occur, the trading price of our common and capital stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
COVID-19 Has Impacted Our Business and the Extent to Which it Will Continue to Impact Our Business, Financial Condition and Results of Operations Will Depend on Future Developments, Which Are Highly Uncertain and Cannot Be Predicted.
The COVID-19 pandemic, its broad impact and preventive measures taken to contain or mitigate the pandemic have had, and are likely to continue to have, significant negative effects on the United States and global economy, employment levels, employee productivity, residential real estate and financial markets. This, in turn, has and may increasingly have a negative impact on our real estate partners, suppliers, demand for our products and services, the ability of customers to effectuate real estate transactions, profitability, the value of collateral securing loans, our ability to resell loans on the secondary market, access to credit and our ability to operate our business.
In 2020, in response to these unprecedented circumstances, we temporarily paused home buying activities through Zillow Offers, provided certain product discounts, temporarily closed offices, paused hiring for non-critical roles, paused the majority of our marketing and advertising activities and reduced discretionary spending. Although we have, among other things, resumed home buying in all Zillow Offers markets and began to increase our hiring, marketing and advertising activities, we cannot predict the scope and duration of the pandemic, actions taken by governmental authorities in response to the pandemic, the impact to our business of changes to home buying, selling, renting, financing and shopping trends due to the pandemic, or whether and to what extent we will have to implement additional operational changes in light of COVID-19 in the future.
In addition, our ability to fund our liquidity requirements and operate our business depends on our cash flows from operations as well as our ability to access capital markets and borrow on our existing credit facilities. For example, the provision of certain product discounts and pause of home buying activities through Zillow Offers in 2020 has and may continue to disrupt our revenue and operating cash flow levels. Further, our access to and the availability of financing on acceptable terms may be adversely impacted by the pandemic. For more information on the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our liquidity position and outlook, please see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources.”
As a result of these and other consequences, the pandemic has and may continue to adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, possibly significantly. The extent to which COVID-19 will impact our operations will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time, and include the magnitude, duration and severity of COVID-19, the actions taken to contain or mitigate any outbreaks and any associated economic downturn or extended slowdown in the real estate markets and the availability and widespread distribution and use of effective vaccines.
Our Business and Operating Results May Be Significantly Impacted by the Health of the United States Residential Real Estate Industry and May Be Negatively Affected by Downturns in This Industry and General Economic Conditions.
The success of our business depends, directly and indirectly, on the health of the United States residential real estate market. The health of the United States residential real estate market is affected, in part, by general economic conditions beyond our control. A number of factors could have a negative effect on the industry and harm our business, including the following:
•downturns in the United States residential real estate market – both seasonal and cyclical – which may be due to one or more factors, whether included in this list or not;
•the continuing and future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the residential real estate market, including home buying, renting, selling, financing, and shopping trends and any actions taken by governmental authorities in response to the pandemic;
•changes in international, national, regional, or local economic, demographic, or real estate market conditions;
•slow economic growth or recessionary conditions;
•increased levels of unemployment and/or slowly growing or declining wages;
•declines in the value of residential real estate and/or the pace of home appreciation, or the lack thereof;
•illiquidity in residential real estate;
•overall conditions in the housing market, including macroeconomic shifts in demand, and increases in costs for homeowners such as property taxes, homeowners association fees and insurance costs;
•low levels of consumer confidence in the economy and/or the United States residential real estate industry;
•inflationary conditions;
•low home inventory levels or lack of affordably priced homes;
•increased mortgage rates or down payment requirements and/or restrictions on mortgage financing availability;
•federal, state, or local legislative or regulatory changes that would negatively impact rental properties or the residential real estate industry, such as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Tax Act”), which limited deductions of certain mortgage interest expenses and property taxes;
•volatility and general declines in the stock market; and/or
•natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, and other events that disrupt local, regional, or national real estate markets.
If Real Estate, Rental and Mortgage Professionals, Home Builders or Other Real Estate Partners Reduce or End Their Advertising Spending With Us or if We Are Unable to Effectively Manage Advertising Inventory or Pricing, Our Business Could Be Harmed.
Our business depends in part on revenue generated through sales of advertising products and services to real estate agents and brokerages, rental professionals, mortgage professionals, home builders, and other real estate partners in categories relevant to real estate. Our ability to attract and retain real estate partners, and ultimately to generate advertising revenue, depends on a number of factors, including how successfully we can:
•increase the number of customers who use our products and services to effectuate transactions and the frequency of their use, provide them with tools to promote engagement between real estate market participants, and enhance their user experience so we can retain them;
•offer an attractive return on investment to our real estate partners for their advertising spending with us;
•continue to develop our advertising products and services to increase adoption by and engagement with our real estate partners;
•keep pace with and anticipate changes in technology to provide industry-leading products and services to real estate partners and customers; and
•compete effectively for advertising dollars with other options.
Premier Agent revenue accounted for 31% of total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020. This level of revenue concentration suggests that even modest decreases in individual spending across the real estate partner population, caused by actual or perceived decreases to return on investment, preference for a competitive service, or other factors, could have a significant negative impact on our ability to use proceeds from our Premier Agent business to invest in our other businesses, which we view as a key competitive advantage. Any such decreases in spending could also adversely affect our results of operations. We do not have long-term contracts with most of our real estate partners. Our real estate partners could choose to modify or discontinue their relationships with us with little or no advance notice. For example, our auction-based account interface for Premier Agent partners allows agent partners to independently control the duration of their advertising commitments and our Premier Agent Flex program only requires Premier Agents to pay when a lead converts to a closed transaction.
We may not succeed in retaining existing real estate partners’ spending or capturing a greater share of such spending if we are unable to convince real estate partners of the effectiveness or superiority of our products as compared to alternatives. In addition, we continually evaluate and utilize various pricing and value delivery strategies in order to better align our revenue opportunities with the growth in usage of our mobile and web platforms. For example, in October 2018, we began testing our Flex pricing model for Premier Agent and Premier Broker advertising services in limited markets. We now offer this pricing model to select partners, and provide it alongside our legacy market-based pricing model. With the Flex model, Premier Agents and Premier Brokers are provided with impressions and connections and no upfront cost and they pay a performance advertising fee only when a real estate transaction is closed with one of those validated leads. To estimate variable consideration for Flex, we primarily use historical conversion data to develop our expectation of the number of leads that will result in closed transactions and the performance fee per transaction. Our estimation methodology may be inaccurate and some or all of the revenue we recognize when leads are transferred to Flex agents may be reversed. The Flex pricing model may not be successful and may result in a decrease in advertising spend from our real estate partners. Future changes to our pricing or lead delivery methodologies for advertising services or product offerings may cause real estate partners to reduce or end their advertising with us or negatively impact our ability to manage revenue opportunities. If real estate partners reduce or end their advertising spending with us, or if we are unable to effectively manage inventory and pricing, our advertising revenue and business, results of operations and financial condition could be harmed.
Zillow Offers is an Unproven Business Model and Could Fail to Achieve Expected Results and Cause Harm to Our Financial Results, Operations, and Reputation.
Through Zillow Offers, we purchase homes, make certain repairs and updates and sell homes back into the market. Zillow Offers has grown rapidly since we started offering the service in April 2018 and it may expose us to a variety of financial, legal, and reputational risks. The Zillow Offers business model and technology is still nascent compared to the business model of the incumbents in the United States residential real estate industry. Our Zillow Offers operating results are not predictable, our historical Zillow Offers results may not be indicative of our future Zillow Offers results, and we may not be able to achieve the profitability that we desire or expect. While many companies are exploring similar business models, none have established long-term track records that might assist us in predicting whether our Zillow Offers business model and strategy can be implemented and sustained over an extended period of time. It may be difficult to evaluate the potential future performance of Zillow Offers without the benefit of established long-term track records from companies implementing a similar business model. We may encounter unanticipated problems as we continue to refine our Zillow Offers business model, which may cause us to fail to achieve expected results and may adversely affect our financial results, operations, and reputation.
Our Zillow Offers Business Depends on Our Ability to Accurately Value Homes and Manage Inventory and a Failure to Do So May Have an Adverse Effect on Our Business and Financial Results.
The success of Zillow Offers depends in part on our ability to efficiently acquire, renovate and sell properties. We underwrite and price the homes we buy and sell through Zillow Offers using in-person evaluations and data science and proprietary algorithms based on a number of factors, including our knowledge of the real estate markets in which Zillow Offers operates. These assessments include the estimated time from purchase to sale, the cost of updating a home, market conditions and potential resale proceeds, closing costs and holding costs. These assessments may be inaccurate. Our pricing model may not account for submarket nuances – for example, the location of a home on a hill or in a building – which could have a significant impact on price. If valuations are too low and/or fees are too high, conversion rates and customer satisfaction may be adversely impacted, as our offers may not be competitive. In addition, we may not discover latent home construction defects or environmental hazards or other conditions requiring remediation or impacting the value of the home in a timely manner, or at all, which may require us to write down the inventory value of those homes or prevent us from reselling them for the price we anticipated or at all. We may be unable to acquire or sell inventory at attractive prices, in a timely manner, or at all. We may also be unable to finance and manage inventory effectively. As a result, our revenue, gross profit and results of operations may be affected, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
If Our Zillow Offers Business is Unable to Obtain and Maintain Sufficient Financing to Support the Purchase of Homes, Our Financial Results May Suffer.
We primarily utilize credit facilities with a limited number of counterparties to provide capital for the growth and operation of our Zillow Offers business, including to finance the purchase of homes. If we fail to maintain adequate relationships with potential financial sources or we are unable to renew, refinance or extend our existing credit facilities on favorable terms or at all, we may be unable to maintain sufficient inventory, which would adversely affect our Zillow Offers business and our results of operations. In addition, undrawn amounts available under our credit facilities are generally not committed, meaning the applicable lender is not committed, but may in its discretion, advance loan funds in excess of the outstanding borrowings. Obtaining new or replacement funding arrangements may be at higher interest rates or other less favorable terms. Our financing sources are not required to extend the maturities of our financing arrangements and if a financing source is unable or unwilling to extend financing, and other financing sources are unable or unwilling to make or increase their financing commitments, then we will be required to repay the outstanding balance of the financing on the related maturity date. If realized, any of these financing risks could negatively impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our Zillow Offers Business is Dependent Upon Access to Desirable Inventory. Obstacles to Acquiring Attractive Inventory Because of Supply, Competition, or Other Factors May Have an Adverse Effect on Our Business and Financial Results.
We primarily acquire homes directly from consumers and there can be no assurance of an adequate supply of such homes on terms that are attractive to us or meet the criteria required under our financing arrangements. There can be no assurance that the supply of desirable homes will be sufficient to meet our needs. A reduction in the availability of or access to inventory could have an adverse effect on our business, sales and results of operations. In addition, we evaluate thousands of potential homes daily using our proprietary pricing model and there can be no assurance that we will be able to acquire homes to meet our needs at the prices we expect. If we do not adjust our pricing to stay in line with broader market trends, fail to recognize those trends, are unwilling to acquire homes priced higher than we expect, or do not otherwise broaden our acquisition standards, it could adversely affect our ability to acquire inventory. We remain dependent on customers to sell us homes. We may acquire homes priced above our expectations or pay more than expected to renovate homes, which may adversely impact our profitability and results of operations.
Our ongoing ability to acquire homes is critical to our business model. A lack of available homes that meet our purchase criteria may affect our ability to scale. Reductions in our acquisitions of homes may have adverse effects on our ability to reach our desired inventory levels, our desired portfolio diversification, and our results of operations. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent health risks and public health orders, we temporarily paused home buying through Zillow Offers to protect the safety and health of our employees, customers, and partners. Although we resumed home buying in all of our Zillow Offers markets by early August 2020 and added a 25th market in Jacksonville, Florida in September 2020, and have substantially returned to pre-COVID-19 inventory levels in the short term, our home inventory levels may be negatively impacted by other events or factors in the future.
Increases in transaction costs to acquire properties, including costs of evaluating homes and making offers, title insurance and escrow service costs, changes in transfer taxes, rising interest rates, and any other new or increased acquisition costs, would have an adverse impact on our home acquisitions and our business.
Our Zillow Offers Business is Dependent Upon Our Ability to Expeditiously Sell Inventory. Failure to Expeditiously Sell Our Inventory Could Have an Adverse Effect on Our Business and Financial Results. Holding Homes in Inventory Exposes Us to Risks, Such as Increased Holding Costs.
Our purchases of homes through our Zillow Offers business are based in large part on our estimates of projected demand. If actual sales are materially less than our forecasts, we could experience an over-supply of inventory, which may cause downward pressure on our sales prices and profitability and increase our average days to sale. Our inventory of homes purchased has at times represented a significant portion of our total assets and holding those assets in the form of non-income producing homes inventory for an extended period of time subjects us to significant holding costs, including financing costs, maintenance and upkeep expenses, insurance expenses, property tax expenses, homeowners association fees, other expenses that accompany the ownership of residential real property, and increased risk of depreciation of value. If we have excess inventory or our average days to sale increases, the results of our operations may be adversely affected because we may be unable to liquidate such inventory at prices that allow us to meet profitability targets or to recover our costs.
Certain Factors May Reduce Customer Confidence in our Zillow Offers Business, Which May Adversely Impact Our Business, Financial Results, and Reputation.
The actual or perceived quality of the homes we sell may be poor due to factors both within and beyond our control, such as our decision to make certain upgrades but not others, the actual or perceived quality of the upgrades we make, and latent defects in properties. Properties may experience unsafe conditions while we own them or soon after we resell them, which may cause harm to person or property. We may be subject to new legal, regulatory, and other requirements and local ordinances, as well as disputes with customers, service providers, and others arising from our purchase, renovation, or resale of properties. Listings for the homes we sell may be inaccurate. These and other factors may reduce customer confidence in our services, which may negatively impact our business, financial results, and reputation.
Our Zillow Offers Business Relies on Third Parties to Renovate and Repair Homes Before Resale, and the Cost, Quality, or Availability of Third-Party Labor Could Adversely Affect Our Holding Period and Investment Return for Homes.
Our Zillow Offers business relies on local and national third-party general contractors, vendors and service providers to make upgrades to and perform maintenance on homes prior to resale, and we can provide no assurances regarding the quality of their work, that we will have uninterrupted or unlimited access to their services or that we will be able to effectively control the timing and costs of their projects. If we do not select and maintain appropriate third parties to provide these services, our reputation and financial results may suffer. Further, if the quality of a third-party provider’s work does not meet our expectations, we may need to engage another third-party provider, which may extend the timeline or expand the budget for completing renovations or repairs.
A longer than expected period for completing renovations or repairs could negatively impact our ability to sell a home within our anticipated timeline. This prolonged timing exposes us to factors that adversely affect the home’s resale value and may result in selling the home for a lower price than anticipated or not being able to sell the home at all. Meanwhile, incurring more than budgeted costs could adversely affect our investment return on purchased homes. Furthermore, any undetected issues with a third-party provider’s work may adversely affect our reputation and consumer confidence.
Declining Property Valuations Could Result in Recording Inventory Write-Downs and May Adversely Affect our Financial Condition and Operating Results.
Home prices can be volatile and the value of our inventory may fluctuate in response to seasonality, consumer demand, changes in economic conditions and other factors, and as a result we may be required to write down our inventory if net realizable value is lower than cost. We regularly review the value of our inventory to determine whether their value has decreased such that it is necessary or appropriate to record a write-down in the relevant accounting period. Such a loss would result in a decrease (increase) in our net income (loss) in the applicable accounting period and would be reflected as a decrease in the value of our inventory on the consolidated balance sheets. If we do not determine that it is appropriate to record a write-down, a property could still decline in value, resulting in reduced return from the property, which would adversely affect our Zillow Offers business and financial results.
We May Not Be Able to Maintain or Establish Relationships With Real Estate Brokerages, Real Estate Listing Aggregators, Multiple Listing Services, Property Management Companies, Home Builders and Other Third-Party Listing Providers, Which Could Limit the Information We Have to Power Our Products and Services.
Our ability to attract customers to our mobile applications, websites and other tools depends to some degree on providing timely access to comprehensive and accurate real estate listings and information. To provide these listings and this information, we maintain relationships with real estate brokerages, real estate listing aggregators, multiple listing services (“MLSs”), property management companies, home builders, other third-party listing providers and homeowners and their real estate agents to include listing data in our services. Many of our agreements with real estate listing providers are short-term agreements that may be terminated with limited notice or cause. Many of our competitors and other real estate websites have similar access to MLSs and listing data, and may be able to source real estate information faster or more efficiently than we can. Another industry participant or group could create a new listings data service, which could impact the relative quality or quantity of information of our listing providers. The loss of existing relationships with MLSs and other listing providers, whether due to termination of agreements or otherwise, changes to our rights to use or timely access listing data or an inability to continue to add new listing providers or changes to the way real estate information is shared, may negatively impact our listing data quality. This could markedly decrease the quantity and quality of the sale and rental data we provide, reduce consumer confidence in our products and services and cause customers to go elsewhere for real estate listings and information, which could severely harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
If We Fail To Comply With the Rules and Compliance Requirements of MLSs, Our Access to and Use of Listings Data May Be Restricted or Terminated.
Our subsidiaries that are MLS members (the “MLS Members”) must comply with each MLS’s rules and compliance requirements to access and use its listings data. Each MLS that the MLS Members belong to has adopted its own rules, policies, and agreement terms governing, among other things, how MLS data may be used and how listings data must be displayed on our websites and mobile applications. The MLS Members are also subject to new compliance operations requirements and, as a result, must respond to complaints lodged by the MLS or other MLS participants on required timelines. The MLS rules and compliance requirements may not contemplate multi-jurisdictional licensed brokerage entities. MLS rules vary among markets and are in some cases inconsistent between MLSs, such that we are required to customize our websites, mobile applications, or services to accommodate differences between MLS rules. Handling complaints received by the MLS Members across markets may create heightened operational or financial risks with short response and resolution deadlines. Complying with the rules and compliance requirements of each MLS requires significant investment, including personnel, technology and development resources, and the exercise of considerable judgment. Rules and compliance requirements of MLSs may be changed across markets, including potential for targeted changes in response to our operations. If any of the MLS Members are deemed to be noncompliant with an MLS’s rules or to have provided improper responses to or resolution of complaints, they may face disciplinary sanctions by that MLS, which could include monetary fines, restricting or terminating our access to that MLS’s data, or other disciplinary measures. The loss or degradation of this listings data could materially and adversely affect traffic to our mobile applications and websites, which could severely harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We May Not Be Able to Maintain or Establish Relationships With Data Providers, Which Could Limit the Information We Are Able to Provide to Our Customers and Impair Our Ability to Attract or Retain Customers.
We obtain certain real estate data, such as transaction history, property descriptions, tax-assessed value and property taxes paid, under licenses from third-party data providers. We use this data to enable the development, maintenance and improvement of our marketplace and information services, including Zestimates, Rent Zestimates and our living database of homes and to power the pricing algorithms that we use for our Zillow Offers business. We have invested significant time and resources to develop proprietary algorithms, valuation models, software and practices to use and improve on this specific data. We may be unable to renew our licenses with these data providers or enter into new data license agreements, or we may be able to do so only on terms that are less favorable to us, which could harm our ability to continue to develop, maintain and improve these information services and could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
If We Do Not Innovate or Provide High-Quality Products and Services That Deliver Efficient and Integrated Transaction Experiences to Our Customers and Real Estate Partners, Our Business Could Be Harmed.
Our success depends on our continued innovation to provide new, and improve upon existing, products and services that make real estate transactions faster, easier and less stressful for our customers and provide value to real estate, rental and mortgage professionals, home buyers and our other real estate partners. As a result, we must continually invest significant resources in research and development to improve the attractiveness and comprehensiveness of our products and services, enable smoother and more efficient real estate transactions, adapt to changes in technology and support new devices and operating systems. If we are unable to provide products and services that our customers want to use, on the devices they prefer, then those customers may become dissatisfied and use competitors’ mobile applications, websites, products and services. If our customers begin to access more real estate information and services through other media and we fail to innovate, our business may be negatively impacted. If we are unable to continue offering high-quality, innovative products and services, we may be unable to attract additional customers and real estate partners or retain our current customers and real estate partners, which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We Face Competition for Customers in the Real Estate Category, Which Could Impair Our Ability to Attract Users of Our Mobile Applications, Websites and Other Products and Services, Which Could Harm Our Business, Results of Operations and Financial Condition.
Our business model depends on our ability to continue to attract customers to our mobile applications, websites, real estate services and other services and enhance their engagement with our products and services in a cost-effective manner. In addition, our ability to be successful depends, in part, on attracting customers who have historically shopped for or bought, sold, rented, or financed their homes through more traditional channels. New entrants continue to join the real estate space at a rapid pace and the tools and services for buying, selling, renting, or financing homes are significantly less developed than in other industries, such as books, music, travel and other consumer products. Our existing and potential competitors include companies that operate, or could develop, national and local real estate, rental, new construction and mortgage businesses. Such competitors range from companies offering traditional offline advertising media, like newspapers, to new mobile- or web-only technology companies and from real estate investors, like institutional investors and iBuyers, to mortgage lenders and title and settlement service providers. These companies could devote greater financial, technical and other resources than we have available to real estate services, sales, advertising or research and development, have a more accelerated time frame for deployment or leverage their existing customer bases and proprietary technologies to provide products and services that customers might view as superior to our offerings. Any of our future or existing competitors may introduce different services or solutions that attract customers or provide services or solutions similar to our own but with better branding or marketing resources. If the use of online products and services for buying, selling, renting, or financing residential real estate does not continue to develop and grow or we are not able to continue to attract customers to our mobile applications, websites, real estate services and other services, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be harmed.
We May Not Be Able to Compete Successfully Against Our Existing or Future Competitors in Attracting Customers for Our Products and Services or Real Estate Partners, Which Could Harm Our Business, Results of Operations and Financial Condition.
We face intense competition in each of our lines of business. We compete with a variety of real estate transaction service providers to attract customers engaging in real estate transactions and we also compete with traditional and online or mobile media sources to attract real estate partners. Please see “Competition” under Part 1, Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a general discussion of the competitive conditions in each of our businesses.
Competitors for our real estate transaction services include real estate brokers, real estate investors, mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers, financial institutions, and title and settlement service providers. Many of these competitors may have considerable competitive advantages, including longer operating histories, more extensive financial resources, stronger brand equity, more industry experience and greater knowledge and expertise. As a result, these competitors may have an advantage in attracting customers, recruiting highly skilled personnel, and growing or maintaining their businesses. They may also provide real estate transaction customers with services and experiences superior to or more cost-effective than ours.
We compete against mobile applications and websites dedicated to providing real estate, rental, new construction and mortgage information and services to real estate professionals and customers, major internet portals, general search engines, e-commerce and social media sites as well as other technology and media companies. We also compete for a share of our real estate partners’ overall marketing budgets with traditional media such as television, magazines, newspapers and home/apartment guide publications, particularly with respect to advertising dollars spent at the local level by real estate professionals to advertise their qualifications and listings. Large companies with significant brand recognition have large numbers of direct sales personnel and substantial proprietary advertising inventory and mobile application and website traffic, which may provide a competitive advantage. To compete successfully for real estate transaction partners against future and existing competitors, we must continue to invest resources in developing our advertising platform and proving the effectiveness and relevance of our advertising products and services. Pressure from competitors seeking to acquire a greater share of our real estate partners’ overall marketing budget could adversely affect our pricing and margins, lower our revenue and increase our research and development and marketing expenses.
If we are unable to compete successfully against our existing or future competitors, we could lose or fail to gain market share and our business, results of operations or financial condition would be harmed.
We Compete in a Dynamic Industry, and We May Invest Significant Resources to Pursue Strategies and Develop New Products and Services That Do Not Prove Effective.
The industry for residential real estate transaction services, technology, information marketplaces and advertising is dynamic, and the expectations and behaviors of customers and professionals shift constantly and rapidly. We continue to learn a great deal about the behaviors and objectives of residential real estate market participants as the industry evolves and are investing significant resources to develop, test and launch products and services to address the needs of the market and improve the home buying, selling, financing, building and renting experience. Changes or additions to our products and services may not attract or engage our customers, and may reduce confidence in our products and services, negatively impact the quality of our brands, upset our partners or other industry participants, expose us to increased market or legal risks, subject us to new laws and regulations or otherwise harm our business. For example, Zillow Offers may not continue to engage home sellers and home buyers as we think it will. Further, if we do not realize the benefits we expect from the strategic relationships we enter into, including for example, the generation of additional advertising revenue opportunities, our business could be harmed. Customers may prefer other service providers because they offer different or superior services or those services are easier to use, faster or more cost effective than our services. We may not successfully anticipate or keep pace with industry changes, and we may invest considerable financial, personnel and other resources to pursue strategies that do not ultimately prove effective such that our results of operations and financial condition may be harmed.
If Zillow Home Loans is Unable to Obtain and Maintain Sufficient Financing to Fund Its Origination of Mortgages, Our Mortgages Business and the Mortgages Segment Financial Results May Suffer.
In October 2018, we acquired Zillow Home Loans, LLC (“Zillow Home Loans”), formerly Mortgage Lenders of America, L.L.C. (“MLOA”), a licensed mortgage lender. Zillow Home Loans funds substantially all of its lending operations using warehouse and repurchase facilities, intending to sell all loans and corresponding servicing rights to third-party financial institutions, government-sponsored entities or mortgage servicing rights purchasers after a holding period. A substantial portion of the amounts available under these warehouse and repurchase facilities are not committed, meaning the applicable lender is not obligated to, but may in its discretion, advance loan funds beyond the committed amounts up to the maximum borrowing capacity. Zillow Home Loans’ borrowings are then generally repaid with the proceeds it receives from mortgage sales. To maintain and grow its business, Zillow Home Loans depends, in part, on having sufficient borrowing capacity under its current facilities or obtaining additional borrowing capacity under new facilities. If Zillow Home Loans is not able to negotiate with its lenders to advance loan funds beyond the committed amounts under its warehouse and repurchase facilities or to otherwise obtain and maintain debt financing with sufficient capacity or flexibility on acceptable terms, and did not have sufficient cash on hand available, then Zillow Home Loans may be unable to maintain or increase the amount of mortgage loans that it originates, may be limited in the type or quantity of loans it can fund, borrowers may choose other mortgage lenders and its business may suffer. If Zillow Home Loans is unable to form or retain relationships with these third-party financial institutions to purchase its loans or to comply with any covenants in its agreements with these institutions, or is unable to do so on acceptable terms, it may be unable to sell its loans on favorable terms or at all. If Zillow Home Loans is unable to sell its loans or is required to repurchase the loans from third parties, it may be required to hold the loans for investment or sell them at a discount.
Zillow Home Loans Product Offerings May Not Meet Customers’ Financing Needs, Which Could Cause Them to Use Other Lenders.
Zillow Home Loans currently offers a limited number of mortgage products to customers under conventional and government guaranteed loan programs. If these programs do not meet the financing needs of our customers, and we do not adapt to market changes and customer preferences, customers may opt to obtain financing from other lenders who offer different or more competitive rates or loan products. Similarly, if any of the government sponsored entities amend the terms of an existing loan program, cease offering the program, limit our ability to use the program in connection with our Zillow Offers business or revoke the authority of Zillow Home Loans to offer such programs, we may have to make changes to or discontinue the mortgage products that we offer, which may negatively affect our business.
Zillow Home Loans May Not Be Able to Continue to Grow its Mortgage Loan Origination Business, Which Could Negatively Affect Our Mortgages Segment, Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
The Zillow Home Loans mortgage loan origination business consists of providing purchase money loans to homebuyers and refinancing existing loans. The origination of purchase money mortgage loans by Zillow Home Loans is influenced by customers purchasing homes through Zillow Offers who elect to finance their home through Zillow Home Loans and traditional business clients in the home buying process such as realtors and builders. As a result, our ability to secure relationships with traditional business clients may influence our ability to grow our loan origination business. Our loan origination business also operates through third party mortgage professionals who do business with us on a best efforts basis, i.e., they are not contractually obligated to do business with us. Further, our competitors also have relationships with these brokers and actively compete with us in our efforts to expand our broker networks. Accordingly, we may not be successful in maintaining our existing relationships or expanding our broker networks. Our production and consumer direct lending operations are also subject to overall market factors that can impact our ability to grow our loan production volume. For example, increased competition from new and existing market participants, reductions in the overall level of refinancing activity or slow growth in the level of new home purchase activity can impact our ability to continue to grow our loan production volumes, and we may be forced to accept lower margins in our respective businesses in order to continue to compete and keep our volume of activity consistent with past or projected levels. If we are unable to continue to grow our loan origination business, this could adversely affect our business.
Zillow Home Loans Is Dependent on United States Government-Sponsored Entities and Government Agencies, and Any Actions by These Entities or Changes in These Entities or Their Operations Could Adversely Affect Our Mortgage Business, Liquidity, Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
The ability of Zillow Home Loans to generate revenue through loan sales depends, in part, on its participation in programs administered by government agencies such as the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Federal Housing Administration, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the United States Department of Agriculture, or government-sponsored entities (“GSEs”) such as the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”). Presently, some of the loans Zillow Home Loans originates are sold on a direct basis to a GSE, while others are sold “whole loan” to individual investors on the secondary market. If any of these government agencies or GSEs limit Zillow Home Loans’ ability to participate in any of these programs, or if the operation of any of these government agencies or GSEs or the programs they administer are eliminated or changed, our mortgages segment, liquidity, financial condition, and results of operations may be adversely affected.
A number of legislative proposals have been introduced in recent years that would wind down or phase out the GSEs, including a recent proposal to end the conservatorship and privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is not possible to predict the scope and nature of the actions that the United States government, including the current administration, will ultimately take with respect to the GSEs. Any changes in laws and regulations affecting the relationship between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and their regulators or the United States federal government, and any changes in leadership at any of these entities could adversely affect our mortgages segment and prospects. Any discontinuation of, or significant reduction in, the operation of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac or any significant adverse change in their capital structure, financial condition, activity levels in the primary or secondary mortgage markets or underwriting criteria could materially and adversely affect our mortgages segment, liquidity, financial condition, and results of operations. A discontinuation or reduction in the operations of the GSEs could also affect “whole loan” sales on the secondary market, as there is a potential that this could cause a sharp decline in investor appetite.
Zillow Home Loans Operates in a Highly Regulated Industry, and Federal, State, and Local Laws and Regulations, Including Many That Are Continually Changing, Could Materially and Adversely Affect Our Business, Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
Zillow Home Loans is required to comply with a wide array of federal, state and local laws and regulations that regulate, among other things, the manner in which it conducts its loan origination business. These regulations directly impact the Zillow Home Loans business and require constant compliance, monitoring and internal and external audits.
Zillow Home Loans’ failure to operate effectively and in compliance with these laws, regulations and rules could subject us to lawsuits or governmental actions and damage our reputation, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, Zillow Home Loans’ failure to comply with these laws, regulations and rules may result in increased costs of doing business, reduced payments by borrowers, modification of the original terms of loans, permanent forgiveness of debt, delays in the foreclosure process, increased servicing advances, litigation, reputational damage, enforcement actions, and repurchase and indemnification obligations.
Our Mortgages Segment is Impacted by Interest Rates. Changes in Prevailing Interest Rates May Have an Adverse Effect on the Financial Results for Our Mortgages Segment.
The financial performance of our Mortgages segment is directly affected by changes in prevailing interest rates. The financial performance of our Mortgages segment may be adversely affected or be subject to substantial volatility because of changes in prevailing interest rates, which may be impacted by a number of factors. For example, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated government and market responses and outcome of recent elections, there is an increased degree of uncertainty and unpredictability concerning current interest rates, future interest rates and potential negative interest rates, which may have an adverse effect on the results of operations for our Mortgages segment.
As interest rates fall, refinancing generally becomes a larger portion of the mortgage loan market. Likewise, as interest rates rise, refinancing generally becomes a smaller portion of the mortgage loan market and demand may also decrease for purchase mortgages as home ownership becomes more expensive. With sustained low interest rates in 2020, increased refinance activity drove improved revenue for our Mortgages segment. Accordingly, if interest rates rise and the market shifts to purchase mortgages, our business could be adversely affected if we are unable to increase our share of purchase mortgages. Alternatively, if interest rates remain low, consumer demand for refinancing residential mortgage loans could decrease after many homeowners have refinanced at low rates, and we may be unable to increase our share of purchase mortgages. In either case, our mortgage origination business and the financial results for our Mortgages segment could be harmed.
Zillow Home Loans uses derivatives and other instruments to reduce exposure to adverse changes in interest rates. Hedging interest rate risk is a complex process, requiring sophisticated models and constant monitoring. Zillow Home Loans’ hedging activity may fail to provide adequate coverage for interest rate exposure due to market volatility, hedging instruments that do not directly correlate with the interest rate risk exposure being hedged or counterparty defaults on obligations. Certain of our hedges related to newly originated mortgages may be subject to margin calls, which, if made, could adversely impact our liquidity. There may be periods Zillow Home Loans elects not to hedge some or all of its interest rate risk.
Natural Disasters and Catastrophic Events May Disrupt Real Estate Markets, Damage or Destroy Our Properties, or Otherwise Harm Our Business.
The occurrence of a significant natural disaster or other catastrophic event such as a pandemic, health crisis, earthquake, hurricane, windstorm, fire, flood, power loss, telecommunications failure, cyber-attack, war, civil unrest, terrorist attack or other similar event, may damage or destroy our properties, including homes in our inventory, disrupt our operations, local and regional real estate markets or economies and negatively impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic, including the reactions of governments, markets, and the general public to the COVID-19 pandemic, caused a number of adverse consequences for our business and results of operations.
Zillow buys and sells homes in 25 metropolitan areas through Zillow Offers as of December 31, 2020. In addition, through Zillow Home Loans, we originate loans in over 45 states and jurisdictions. The occurrence of a natural disaster or other catastrophic event in any of these localities could have a significant negative impact on those real estate markets and the success of our Zillow Offers and Zillow Home Loans businesses in the affected regions.
Although the majority of our workforce has shifted to a remote work environment, we maintain large employee populations in Seattle, Washington; New York, New York; Atlanta, Georgia; San Francisco, California; Irvine, California and Denver, Colorado, a significant portion of our Zillow Offers operations is located in Phoenix, Arizona, and a significant portion of Zillow Home Loans operations is located in Overland Park, Kansas; an earthquake or other natural disaster or catastrophic event in any of these cities could disrupt our engineering, sales, operations and/or mortgage origination teams and equipment critical to the operation of our business. Similarly, a significant natural disaster or other catastrophic event in any major United States city could negatively impact a large number of our real estate partners and customers and cause a decrease in our revenue or traffic.
Business continuity and disaster recovery planning is important, and if we are unable to develop adequate plans to ensure that our business functions continue to operate during and after a disaster or catastrophic event, and successfully execute on those plans in the event of a disaster, catastrophic event, or other emergency, our business and reputation may be harmed.
If Our Data Integrity Suffers Real or Perceived Harm, Customers and Real Estate Partners May Decrease Use or Cease Using Our Products and Services, and We May Be Subject to Legal Liability.
Because homes represent significant investments, and many customer decisions regarding homes are data-driven, our ability to attract and retain customers and real estate partners to our products and services is dependent upon our ability to publish, and reputation for publishing, accurate and complete residential real estate information through our mobile applications and websites. As discussed above, a significant amount of the data we publish on our mobile applications and websites are licensed from third parties, and we have limited ability to control the quality of the information we receive from them. We also publish a significant amount of customer-generated content, and our tools and processes designed to ensure the accuracy, quality and legality of such content may not always be effective. Data we generate independently are subject to error, unauthorized modification by way of third-party viruses and other factors. As the volume of data we publish increases, and potential threats to data quality become more complex, the risk of harm to our data integrity also increases. If our data integrity suffers real or perceived harm, we may be subject to legal liability, and customers and real estate partners may decrease their use or cease using our products and services, which would harm our results of operations and financial condition.
Our Dedication to Making Decisions Based Primarily on the Best Interests of Customers May Cause Us to Forgo Short-Term Gains.
Our guiding principle is to build our business by making decisions based primarily on the best interests of our customers, which we believe has been essential to our success in increasing our customer growth rate and engagement and has served the long-term interests of our company and our shareholders. In the past, we have forgone, and we will in the future forgo, certain expansion or short-term revenue opportunities that we do not believe are in the best interests of customers, even if such decisions negatively impact our short-term results of operations. In addition, our philosophy of putting customers first may negatively impact our relationships with our existing or prospective real estate partners. This could result in a loss of real estate partners, which could harm our revenue and results of operations. For example, we require our Premier Agent partners to maintain a minimum customer experience score and if they fail to do so after a probation period, we have cancelled advertising from those partners on our platforms. While forgoing this advertising revenue could harm our short-term financial results, we believe it is in the best interest of our customers to connect them with the real estate partners most likely to lead them to a positive experience. Our customer focus may also negatively impact our relationships with real estate brokerages, MLSs, and other industry participants on whom we rely for listings information. Zillow Offers and Zillow Home Loans, for example, may be perceived as impinging upon the business models of real estate agents, brokerages and lenders, which may cause them to terminate their listings agreements with us or, with respect to brokerages and lenders, cease advertising with us. Such risks could have a materially negative impact on our results of operations. Our principle of making decisions based primarily on the best interests of customers may not result in the long-term benefits that we expect, in which case our user traffic and engagement, business and results of operations could be harmed.
We Are Subject to Disputes Regarding the Accuracy or Display of Our Zestimates and Rent Zestimates.
We provide our customers with Zestimate and Rent Zestimate home and rental valuations. Zestimates are our estimated current market values of a home based on our proprietary automated valuation models that apply advanced algorithms to analyze our data; they are not appraisals. A Rent Zestimate is our estimated current monthly rental price of a home, using similar automated valuation models that we have designed to address the unique attributes of rental homes. We are, from time to time, involved in disputes with property owners and others who disagree with the accuracy or display of a Zestimate or Rent Zestimate, and such disputes may result in costly litigation in the future. Further, revisions to our automated valuation models, or the algorithms that underlie them, poor data quality, or other factors may cause certain Zestimates or Rent Zestimates to vary from expectations for those Zestimates or Rent Zestimates. Any such dispute or variation in Zestimates or Rent Zestimates could result in distraction from our business or potentially harm our reputation and financial condition.
We Rely on the Performance of Highly Skilled Personnel, and if We Are Unable to Attract, Retain and Motivate Well-Qualified Employees, Our Business Could Be Harmed.
We believe our success has depended, and continues to depend, on the efforts and talents of our management and our highly skilled team of employees, including our software engineers, operations personnel, loan officers, statisticians, marketing professionals and advertising sales staff. Our future success depends on our continuing ability to attract, develop, motivate and retain highly qualified and skilled employees. The loss of any of our senior management or key employees could materially adversely affect our ability to build on the efforts they have undertaken and to execute our business plan, and we may not be able to find adequate replacements. The market for highly skilled personnel is very competitive. We cannot ensure that we will be able to retain the services of any members of our senior management or other key employees. If we do not succeed in attracting well-qualified employees or retaining and motivating existing employees in a cost-effective manner, our business could be harmed.
We May Make Acquisitions and Investments, Which Could Result in Operating Difficulties, Dilution and Other Harmful Consequences.
We continue to evaluate a wide array of potential strategic opportunities, including acquisitions and investments. Any transactions that we enter into could be material to our financial condition and results of operation. The acquisitions may not result in the intended benefits to our business, and we may not successfully evaluate or utilize the acquired products, technology, or personnel, or accurately forecast the financial impact of an acquisition transaction. The process of integrating an acquired company, business or technology could create unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. The areas where we face risks include: diversion of management time and focus from operating our business to acquisition integration challenges; customer and industry acceptance of products and services offered by the acquired company; implementation or remediation of controls, procedures and policies at the acquired company; coordination of product, engineering and sales and marketing functions; retention of employees from the acquired company; liability for activities of the acquired company before the acquisition; litigation or other claims arising in connection with the acquired company; and impairment charges associated with goodwill and other acquired intangible assets.
For example, during March 2020, we recognized a non-cash impairment charge of $71.5 million related to our Trulia trade names and trademarks intangible asset.
Our failure to address these risks or other problems encountered in connection with our past or future acquisitions and investments could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions or investments, incur unanticipated liabilities, and harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our Fraud Detection Processes and Information Security Systems May Not Successfully Detect All Fraudulent Activity by Third Parties Aimed at Our Employees or Customers, Which Could Adversely Affect Our Reputation and Business Results.
Third-party actors have attempted in the past, and may attempt in the future, to conduct fraudulent activity by engaging with our customers by, for example, posting fake real estate listings on our sites and attempting to solicit personal information or money from customers, and by engaging with our employees by, for example, making fake requests for transfer of funds or sensitive information. We make a large number of wire transfers in connection with loan and real estate closings and process sensitive personal data in connection with these transactions. Though we have sophisticated fraud detection processes and have taken other measures to identify fraudulent activity on our mobile applications, websites and internal systems, we may not be able to detect and prevent all such activity. Similarly, the third parties we use to effectuate these transactions may fail to maintain adequate controls or systems to detect and prevent fraudulent activity. Persistent or pervasive fraudulent activity may cause customers and real estate partners to lose trust in us and decrease or terminate their usage of our products and services, or could result in financial loss, thereby harming our business and results of operations.
We Are Subject to Multiple Risks Related to the Credit Card and Debit Card Payments We Accept.
We accept payments through credit and debit card transactions. For credit and debit card payments, we pay interchange and other fees, which may increase over time. An increase in those fees may require us to increase the prices we charge and would increase our operating expenses, either of which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We depend on processing vendors to complete credit and debit card transactions, both for payments owed to Zillow Group directly and for payments to other third-parties, such as payments made by renters to landlords in our rental payments product. If we or our processing vendors fail to maintain adequate systems for the authorization and processing of credit card transactions, it could cause one or more of the major credit card companies to disallow our continued use of their payment products. If these systems fail to work properly and, as a result, we do not charge our customers’ credit cards on a timely basis
or at all, our business, revenue, results of operations and financial condition could be harmed. In addition, if we add, eliminate or change any of our processing vendors, we may experience processing disruptions and increased operating expenses, either of which could harm our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
The payment methods that we offer also subject us to potential fraud and theft by criminals, who are becoming increasingly sophisticated, seeking to obtain unauthorized access to or exploit weaknesses that may exist in the payment systems. If we fail to comply with applicable rules or requirements for the payment methods we accept, or if payment-related data are compromised due to a breach of data, we may be liable for significant costs incurred by payment card issuing banks and other third parties or subject to fines and higher transaction fees, or our ability to accept or facilitate certain types of payments may be impaired. In addition, our customers could lose confidence in certain payment types, which may result in a shift to other payment types or potential changes to our payment systems that may result in higher costs. If we fail to adequately control fraudulent credit card transactions, we may face civil liability, diminished public perception of our security measures, and significantly higher credit card-related costs, each of which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We are also subject to payment card association operating rules, certification requirements and rules governing electronic funds transfers, which could change or be reinterpreted to make it more difficult for us to comply. We are required to comply with payment card industry security standards. Failing to comply with those standards may violate payment card association operating rules, federal and state laws and regulations, and the terms of our contracts with payment processors. Any failure to comply fully also may subject us to fines, penalties, damages and civil liability, and may result in the loss or impairment of our ability to accept credit and debit card payments. Further, there is no guarantee that such compliance will prevent illegal or improper use of our payment systems or the theft, loss, or misuse of data pertaining to credit and debit cards, card holders and transactions.
If we are unable to maintain our chargeback rate or refund rates at acceptable levels, our processing vendors may increase our transaction fees or terminate their relationships with us. Any increases in our credit and debit card fees could harm our results of operations, particularly if we elect not to raise our rates for our service to offset the increase. The termination of our ability to process payments on any major credit or debit card could significantly impair our ability to operate our business.
Some of Our Potential Losses May Not Be Covered By Insurance. We May Not Be Able to Obtain or Maintain Adequate Insurance Coverage.
We maintain insurance to cover costs and losses from certain risk exposures in the ordinary course of our operations, but our insurance may not cover 100% of the costs and losses from all events. We are responsible for certain retentions and deductibles that vary by policy, and we may suffer losses that exceed our insurance coverage by a material amount. We may also incur costs or suffer losses arising from events against which we have no insurance coverage. In addition, large scale market trends or the occurrence of adverse events in our business may raise our cost of procuring insurance or limit the amount or type of insurance we are able to secure. We may not be able to maintain our current coverage, or obtain new coverage in the future, on commercially reasonable terms or at all.
We attempt to ensure that our properties, including homes in our inventory, are adequately insured to cover casualty losses while we hold them. However, there are certain losses, including losses from floods, fires, earthquakes, wind, pollution, certain environmental hazards, security breaches, litigation, regulatory action, and others for which we may not be insured because it may not be deemed economically feasible or prudent to do so, among other reasons. Any losses resulting from lack of insurance coverage could cause our financial results to suffer.
Environmentally Hazardous Conditions May Adversely Affect Us.
Under various federal, state and local environmental laws, a current or previous owner or operator of real property may be liable for the cost of removing or remediating hazardous or toxic substances on such property. Such laws often impose liability whether or not the owner or operator knew of, or was responsible for, the presence of such hazardous or toxic substances. Even if more than one person may have been responsible for the contamination, each person covered by applicable environmental laws may be held responsible for all of the clean-up costs incurred. In addition, third parties may sue the owner or operator of a site for damages based on personal injury, natural resources or property damage or other costs, including investigation and clean-up costs, resulting from the environmental contamination. The presence of hazardous or toxic substances on one of our properties, including homes held in our inventory, or the failure to properly remediate a contaminated property, could give rise to a lien in favor of the government for costs it may incur to address the contamination or otherwise adversely affect our ability to sell the property. Environmental laws also may impose restrictions on the manner in which property may be used or businesses may be operated. A property owner who violates environmental laws may be subject to sanctions which may be enforced by governmental agencies or, in certain circumstances, private parties. In connection with the acquisition and ownership of our properties, we may be exposed to such costs. The cost of defending against environmental claims, of compliance with environmental regulatory requirements or of remediating any contaminated property could materially and adversely affect us.
Compliance with new or more stringent environmental laws or regulations or stricter interpretation of existing laws may require material expenditures by us. We may be subject to environmental laws or regulations relating to our properties, such as those concerning lead-based paint, mold, asbestos, radon, pesticides, proximity to power lines or other issues. We cannot assure you that future laws, ordinances or regulations will not impose any material environmental liability or that the current environmental condition of our properties will not be affected by existing conditions of the land, operations in the vicinity of the properties or the activities of unrelated third parties. In addition, we may be required to comply with various local, state and federal fire, health, life-safety and similar regulations. Failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations could result in fines and/or damages, suspension of personnel, civil liability or other sanctions.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property and Technology
If Our Security Measures or Technology Systems Are Compromised, We May Be Subject to Legal Claims and Suffer Significant Losses, and Customers May Curtail Use of Our Products and Services and Our Real Estate Partners May Reduce or Eliminate Their Advertising on Our Mobile Applications and Websites.
Our products and services involve the transmission, processing, and/or storage of users’ information, some of which may be private or include personally identifiable information such as social security numbers, financial account information, and credit card information. For example, our dotloop real estate transaction management software stores sensitive personal and financial information, our Mortech mortgage product and pricing software for mortgage professionals processes social security numbers, our rental applications product allows customers to obtain credit and background checks containing sensitive personal and financial information, and both Zillow Home Loans and Zillow Closing Services, our mortgage origination business and real estate closings business respectively, receive, handle and transmit highly sensitive personal and financial information about their customers. Security breaches and administrative or technical failures could expose us to a risk of data loss or exposure, including customer, employee and real estate partner data as well as intellectual property and other confidential business information, which could result in potential significant liability and litigation. Like all mobile application and website providers, our mobile applications and websites are vulnerable to computer viruses, break-ins, phishing attacks, or other attacks, any of which could lead to loss of critical data, availability or the unauthorized disclosure or use of personal or other confidential information. Further, outside parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees, officers, directors, customers or real estate partners to disclose sensitive information in order to gain access to our information or our customers’ or real estate partners’ information, and our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or breached due to user error, malfeasance or other disruptions. If we experience compromises to our security that result in the loss or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information, our customers and real estate partners may lose trust in us, customers may decrease the use of our mobile applications or websites or stop using our mobile applications, websites, or services in their entirety, real estate partners may decrease or stop advertising on our mobile applications or websites, and we may be subject to legal claims, government investigation and additional state and federal legal requirements. If we experience compromises to our security that result in the loss of availability of our data, our mobile applications, websites, or services may be unable to function at a level necessary to meet our customers’ needs.
We engage a variety of vendors to process and store certain customer information, some of which may be private or include personally identifiable information. We also depend on vendors to host many of the systems and infrastructure used to provide our products and services. If our data storage vendors fail to maintain adequate information security systems and our systems or our customers’ information is compromised, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be harmed. A security breach at our vendor could be perceived by customers or our real estate partners as a breach of our systems and could result in damage to our reputation and expose us to other losses.
Further, because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems change frequently, often are not recognized until launched against a target, and may originate from less regulated and remote areas around the world, we may be unable to proactively address all these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. Any or all of these issues could negatively impact our ability to attract new customers and increase engagement by existing customers, cause existing customers to curtail or stop use of our products or services or close their accounts, cause existing real estate partners to cancel their contracts, cause us to incur significant costs to notify affected individuals and upgrade our technology, or subject us to third-party lawsuits, regulatory fines or other action or liability, thereby harming our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Any Significant Disruption in Service on Our Mobile Applications or Websites or in Our Network Could Damage Our Reputation and Brands, and Result in a Loss of Customers of Our Products and Services and of Our Real Estate Partners, Which Could Harm Our Business, Results of Operations and Financial Condition.
Our brand, reputation and ability to attract customers and real estate partners and deliver quality products and services depend on the reliable performance of our network infrastructure and content delivery processes. Our mobile applications and websites are exposed to attempts to overload our servers with denial-of-service attacks or similar disruptions from unauthorized use of our computer systems. We have experienced minor interruptions in these systems in the past, including server failures that temporarily slowed the performance of our mobile applications and websites, and we may experience interruptions in the future. Interruptions in these systems, whether due to system failures, computer viruses, software errors or physical or electronic break-ins, could affect the security or availability of our products and services on our mobile applications and websites and prevent or inhibit the ability of customers to access or effect transactions using our services. Since our customers may rely on our products and services, including our real estate transaction services and customer relationship management tools, for important aspects of their personal lives and businesses, problems with the reliability, availability or security of our systems could damage our customers’ businesses, harm our reputation, delay or inhibit a customer from completing a real estate transaction, result in a loss of customers of our products and services and of real estate partners and result in additional costs, any of which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
To deliver mobile and web Zillow Group brand content while ensuring scalability and redundancy, as well as internal support for our enterprise, we utilize both third-party web services for cloud computing and storage and shared data centers in Seattle, Washington, Ashburn, Virginia, and Santa Clara, California.
We do not own or control the operation of certain of these facilities. Our systems and operations are vulnerable to damage or interruption from fire, flood, power loss, telecommunications failure, terrorist attacks, acts of war, electronic and physical break-ins, computer viruses, earthquakes and similar events. The occurrence of any of the foregoing events could result in damage to our systems and hardware or could cause them to fail completely, and our insurance may not cover such events or may be insufficient to compensate us for losses that may occur.
A failure of our systems at one site could result in reduced functionality for our customers, and a total failure of our systems could cause our mobile applications or websites to be inaccessible or for us to be unable to carry out day-to-day operations. Problems faced by our third-party web-hosting providers with the telecommunications network providers with which they contract or with the systems by which they allocate capacity among their customers, including us, could adversely affect the experience of our customers. Our third-party web-hosting providers could decide to close their facilities without adequate notice. Any financial difficulties, such as bankruptcy reorganization, faced by our third-party web-hosting providers or any of the service providers with whom they contract may have negative effects on our business, the nature and extent of which are difficult to predict. If our third-party web-hosting providers are unable to keep up with our growing needs for capacity, our customers, real estate partners and business could be harmed. In addition, if distribution channels for our mobile applications experience disruptions, such disruptions could adversely affect the ability of users and potential users to access or update our mobile applications, which could harm our business.
We do not carry business interruption insurance sufficient to compensate us for the potentially significant losses, including the potential harm to the future growth of our business, which may result from interruptions in our service as a result of system failures. Any errors, defects, disruptions or other performance problems with our services could harm our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.
We Rely Upon Certain Third-Party Services to Support Critical Functions of Our Business and Any Disruption of or Interference with our Use of those Third -Party Services Could Adversely Impact Our Operations and Our Business.
A limited number of third-party services support essential functions of our business, including Amazon Web Services (“AWS”) and certain other cloud communications platform-as-a-service (“CPaaS”) and Software-as-a-Service technologies hosted by third parties (together with CPaaS, “SaaS Services”). AWS provides us with a distributed computing infrastructure platform for business operations, which is commonly referred to as a “cloud” computing service. Certain of our computer systems utilize data processing, storage capabilities and other services provided by AWS, and we currently run the vast majority of computing to power our mobile applications, websites, and other technology products and services on AWS. In addition, we use SaaS Services to support important functions of our business, including enterprise resource planning, accounting, including revenue recognition, real estate transaction services, customer communications, and customer relationship management. We store a significant amount of information about our customers, real estate partners, employees, and business on AWS and in the SaaS Services, and we rely on these third-party service providers to provide services on a timely and effective basis. Their failure to perform as expected or as required by contract could result in significant disruptions and costs to our operations. In light of our reliance on AWS and SaaS Services, coupled with the complexity of obtaining replacement services, any disruption of or interference with our use of these third-party services could adversely impact our operations and business.
We May Be Unable to Adequately Protect Our Intellectual Property, Which Could Harm the Value of Our Brands and Our Business.
We regard our intellectual property as critical to our success, and we rely on trademark, copyright and patent law, trade secret protection and contracts to protect our proprietary rights. If we are not successful in protecting our intellectual property, the value of our brands and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be harmed.
While we believe that our issued patents and pending patent applications help to protect our business, we cannot ensure that our operations do not, or will not, infringe valid, enforceable patents of third parties or that competitors will not devise new methods of competing with us that are not covered by our patents or patent applications. We cannot ensure that our patent applications will be approved, that any patents issued will adequately protect our intellectual property, that such patents will not be challenged by third parties or found to be invalid or unenforceable, or that our patents will be effective in preventing third parties from utilizing a “copycat” business model to offer the same products or services. The technology underlying our Zestimate home valuation, for example, which we consider to be a key competitive advantage with respect to customer engagement, is currently protected by patents, the loss of which could benefit comparable services provided by our competitors and result in decreased user traffic and engagement with our mobile applications and websites, thereby harming our results of operations and financial condition. In addition, losing one or more of these patents may increase the likelihood that a third party will claim the Zillow home valuation infringes such third party’s patent.
Effective trademark, service mark, copyright and trade secret protection may not be available in every country in which our products and services may be provided. The laws of certain countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States and, therefore, in certain jurisdictions, we may be unable to protect intellectual property and our proprietary technology adequately against unauthorized third-party copying or use, which could harm our competitive position. We have licensed in the past, and expect to license in the future, certain of our proprietary rights, such as trademarks or copyrighted material, to third parties. These licensees may take actions that might diminish the value of our proprietary rights or harm our reputation, even if we have agreements prohibiting such activity. Though certain of these third parties are obligated to indemnify us for breaches of our intellectual property rights, they may be unable to meet these obligations. In addition, we rely on intellectual property and technology developed or licensed by third parties, and we may not be able to obtain licenses and technologies from these third parties on reasonable terms or at all. Any of these events could harm our business, results of operations or financial condition.
In addition, we may actively pursue entities that infringe our intellectual property, including through legal action. Taking such action may be costly, and we cannot ensure that such actions will be successful. Any increase in the unauthorized use of our intellectual property could make it more expensive for us to do business and harm our results of operations or financial condition.
Intellectual Property Disputes Are Costly to Defend and Could Harm Our Business, Results of Operations, Financial Condition and Reputation.
From time to time, we face allegations that we have infringed the trademarks, copyrights, patents and other intellectual property rights of third parties. We are currently subject to intellectual property infringement claims, including actions brought by International Business Machines Corporation and VHT, Inc. These claims allege, among other things, that aspects of our technology infringe upon the plaintiffs’ intellectual property. If we are not successful in defending ourselves against these claims, we may be required to pay damages and may be subject to injunctions, each of which could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and reputation. As we grow our business and expand our operations, we expect that we will continue to be subject to intellectual property claims and allegations. Patent and other intellectual property disputes or litigation may be protracted and expensive, and the results are difficult to predict and may require us to stop offering certain products, services or features, purchase licenses that may be expensive to procure, or modify our products or services. In addition, patent or other intellectual property disputes or litigation may result in significant settlement costs. Any of these events could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and reputation.
In addition, we use open source software in our services and will continue to use open source software in the future. From time to time, we may be subject to claims brought against companies that incorporate open source software into their products or services, claiming ownership of, or demanding release of, the source code, the open source software and/or derivative works that were developed using such software, or otherwise seeking to enforce the terms of the applicable open source license. These claims could also result in litigation, and we may be required to purchase a costly license or remove open source software, devote additional research and development resources to changing our products or services, make generally available the source code for our proprietary technology, or waive certain of our intellectual property rights, any of which would have a negative effect on our business and results of operations.
Even if these matters do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor or without significant cash settlements, the time and resources necessary to resolve them could harm our business, results of operations, financial condition and reputation.
We May Be Unable to Continue to Use the Domain Names That We Use in Our Business, or Prevent Third Parties From Acquiring and Using Domain Names That Infringe on, Are Similar to, or Otherwise Decrease the Value of Our Brand or Our Trademarks or Service Marks.
We have registered domain names for our websites that we use in our business. If we lose the ability to use a domain name, we may incur significant expenses to market our products and services under a new domain name, which could harm our business. In addition, our competitors could attempt to capitalize on our brand recognition by using domain names similar to ours. Domain names similar to ours have been registered in the U.S. and elsewhere. We may be unable to prevent third parties from acquiring and using domain names that infringe on, are similar to, or otherwise decrease the value of our brand or our trademarks or service marks. Protecting and enforcing our rights in our domain names and determining the rights of others may require litigation, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention.
Confidentiality Agreements With Employees and Others May Not Adequately Prevent Disclosure of Trade Secrets and Other Proprietary Information.
In order to protect our technologies and strategic business and operations information, we rely in part on confidentiality agreements with our employees, independent contractors, vendors, licensees, and other third parties. These agreements may not be enough to fully mitigate the possibility of inadvertent disclosure of confidential information, including trade secrets, and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. The loss of trade secret protection could make it easier for third parties to compete with our products by copying functionality. Others may independently discover our trade secrets and proprietary information, and in such cases, we could not assert any trade secret rights against such parties. Further, if our employees, contractors or other third parties with whom we do business use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related or resulting know-how and inventions. Any changes in, or unfavorable interpretations of, intellectual property laws may compromise our ability to enforce our trade secret and intellectual property rights. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to obtain or maintain protection of our trade secrets or other proprietary information could harm our business, results of operations, reputation and competitive position.
We May Not Be Able to Halt the Operations of Websites That Aggregate or Misappropriate Our Data.
From time to time, third parties have misappropriated our data through website scraping, robots or other means, and aggregated this data on their websites with data from other companies. In addition, copycat websites have misappropriated data on our network and attempted to imitate our brand or the functionality of our websites. When we have become aware of such websites, we have employed technological or legal measures in an attempt to halt their operations. We may not be able, however, to detect all such websites in a timely manner and, even if we could, technological and legal measures may be insufficient to halt their operations. In some cases, particularly in the case of websites operating outside of the United States, our available remedies may not be adequate to protect us against the impact of the operation of such websites. In addition, if such activity creates confusion among customers or real estate partners, our brands and business could be harmed. Regardless of whether we can successfully enforce our rights against the operators of these websites, any measures that we may take could require us to expend significant financial or other resources, which could harm our business, results of operations or financial condition.
Risks Related to Regulatory Compliance and Legal Matters
Failure to Comply with Federal, State and Local Laws, Rules and Regulations or to Obtain and Maintain Required Licenses or Authorizations, Could Materially and Adversely Affect our Business, Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
We provide products and services to customers and real estate partners in heavily regulated industries through a number of different channels across the United States and to some extent, in Canada. As a result, we are currently subject to a variety of, and may in the future become subject to additional or newly enacted, international, federal, state and local laws and regulations in various jurisdictions, which are subject to change at any time, including laws regarding the real estate, rental, mortgage and insurance industries, mobile and internet based businesses and other businesses that rely on advertising, as well as privacy, data security, and consumer protection laws, and employment laws. These laws are complex and can be costly to comply with, require significant management time and effort, and subject us to claims, government enforcement actions, civil and criminal liability or other remedies, including suspension of business operations. These laws may conflict with each other, and if we comply with the laws of one jurisdiction, we may find that we are violating laws of another jurisdiction. Our distributed workforce may subject us to employment laws, including employment taxes, in many states and localities in the United States and many provinces in Canada and may increase the costs and expenses we incur to comply with or seek compliance with these laws.
For example, certain of the advertising and transactional services that we provide to customers and real estate professionals in the residential real estate, rental, mortgage and new construction industries, are subject to laws and regulations relating to the collection, use, and disclosure of data collected from our users, including those promulgated and enforced by the United States Federal Trade Commission and certain states, such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), the Telemarketing Sales Rule, the CAN-SPAM Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Canadian Anti-Spam Law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and its provincial counterparts, and the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). The CCPA, which took effect on January 1, 2020, imposes obligations and restrictions on companies regarding their collection, use, and sharing of personal information. Several other states, as well as the federal government, are actively considering privacy laws, which may impose substantial penalties for violations, impose significant costs for investigations and compliance, allow private class-action litigation and carry significant potential liability for our business.
Additionally, laws, regulations, and standards covering marketing and advertising activities conducted by telephone, email, mobile devices, and the internet, may be applicable to our business, such as the TCPA, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, the CAN-SPAM Act, and similar state consumer protection laws. We also assist with the processing of customer credit card transactions and consumer credit report requests, originate mortgage loans, buy and sell homes, perform real estate closings and provide other product offerings, which results in us receiving or facilitating transmission of personally identifiable information. This information is increasingly subject to legislation and regulation in the United States. These laws and regulations are generally intended to protect the privacy and security of personal information, including credit card information that is collected, processed and transmitted. We could be adversely affected if government regulations require us to significantly change our business practices with respect to this type of information or if the third-parties that we engage with to provide processing and screening services violate applicable laws and regulations. Further, restrictions implemented on the platforms through which our websites and applications are accessed, such as mobile operating systems, may impede the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and ability to measure the effectiveness of those efforts, reducing our ability to market our products and services and grow our customer base.
In addition, by providing a medium through which users can post content and communicate with one another, we may also be subject to laws governing intellectual property ownership, obscenity, libel, and privacy, among other issues. The real estate agents, mortgage professionals, banks, property managers, rental agents and certain of our other customers and advertisers are subject to various state and federal laws and regulations, including, but not limited to those relating to real estate, rentals and mortgages, which may impact their use of our mobile applications and websites. We cannot ensure that these entities will comply with applicable laws and regulations at all times. We endeavor to ensure that any content created by Zillow Group is consistent with such laws and regulations by obtaining assurances of compliance from our advertisers and consumers for their activities through, and the content they provide on, our mobile applications and websites.
In connection with the real estate transaction products and services that we provide, we maintain real estate brokerage, title and escrow, mortgage broker, and mortgage lender licenses in the markets in which we operate those regulated products and services. Certain of our mortgage marketing products are operated by our wholly owned subsidiary, Zillow Group Marketplace, Inc., a licensed mortgage broker, and we originate residential mortgages through Zillow Home Loans. Zillow Group Marketplace, Inc. and Zillow Home Loans are subject to stringent state and federal laws and regulations and to the scrutiny of state and federal government agencies as a licensed mortgage broker and licensed mortgage lender, respectively. Mortgage products are regulated at the state level by licensing authorities and administrative agencies, with additional oversight from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other federal agencies. These laws generally regulate the manner in which lending and lending-related activities are marketed or made available, including advertising and other consumer disclosures, payments for services and record keeping requirements; these laws include but are not limited to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Housing Act and various state laws. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also has broad authority to enforce prohibitions on practices that it deems to be unfair, deceptive or abusive. State laws may restrict the amount and nature of interest and fees that may be charged by a lender or mortgage broker, or otherwise regulate the manner in which lenders or mortgage brokers operate or advertise.
We hold real estate brokerage licenses through multiple entities in multiple states and may apply for additional real estate brokerage licenses as our business grows. To maintain these licenses, we must comply with the requirements governing licensed real estate activities and brokerage-related businesses in the markets where we operate. We may be subject to additional local, state and federal laws and regulations governing residential real estate transactions, including those administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), and the states and municipalities in which we transact. Further, due to the geographic scope of our operations and the nature of the services we provide, certain of our other subsidiaries maintain title and escrow licenses in certain states in which we operate, including in connection with Zillow Closing Services.
A number of our personnel are required to maintain individual real estate agent or broker licenses, title and escrow agent licenses, mortgage broker, and mortgage lender licenses. In addition, for certain company licenses that we hold, we are required to designate individual licensed brokers of record, qualified individuals and control persons. We cannot assure you that we, or our licensed personnel, are and will remain at all times, in full compliance with real estate, title and escrow, and mortgage licensing and consumer protection laws and regulations and we may be subject to fines or penalties in the event of any non-compliance. If we, or our licensed personnel, apply for new licenses, we may become subject to additional licensing requirements, which we may not be in compliance with at all times. If in the future a state agency were to determine that we, or our licensed personnel, are required to obtain additional licenses in that state in order to operate our business, or if we or our licensed personnel lose or do not renew an existing license or are otherwise found to be in violation of a law or regulation, we or our licensed personnel may be subject to fines or legal penalties, lawsuits, enforcement actions, void contracts, or our business operations in that state may be suspended or prohibited. Compliance with these laws and regulations is complicated and costly and may inhibit our ability to innovate or grow.
Zillow Home Loans operates its FHA loan program under authority granted by HUD. In the event that HUD determines that Zillow Home Loans has failed or refused to comply with all relevant terms and conditions necessary to maintain its authority active and in good standing, then such authority could be suspended, revoked or materially altered, which would materially and adversely affect the ability of Zillow Home Loans to conduct its business.
If we are unable to comply with these laws or regulations in a cost-effective manner, we may modify impacted products and services, which could require a substantial investment and loss of revenue, or cease providing the impacted product or service altogether. If we are found to have violated laws or regulations, we may be subject to significant fines, penalties, and other losses.
We are From Time to Time Involved In, or May In the Future be Subject to, Claims, Suits, Government Investigations, and Other Proceedings That May Result In Adverse Outcomes.
We are from time to time involved in, or may in the future be subject to, claims, suits, government investigations, and proceedings arising from our business, including actions with respect to intellectual property, privacy, consumer protection, information security, mortgage lending, real estate, environmental, data protection or law enforcement matters, tax matters, labor and employment, and commercial claims, as well as actions involving content generated by our customers, shareholder derivative actions, purported class action lawsuits, and other matters, including those matters described in Part II, Item 8 in Note 19 under the subsection titled “Legal Proceedings” in our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Such claims, suits, government investigations, and proceedings are inherently uncertain, and their results cannot be predicted with certainty. Regardless of the outcome, any such legal proceedings can have an adverse impact on us because of legal costs, diversion of management and other personnel, and other factors. In addition, it is possible that a resolution of one or more such proceedings could result in reputational harm, liability, penalties, or sanctions, as well as judgments, consent decrees, or orders preventing us from offering certain features, functionalities, products, or services, or requiring a change in our business practices, products or technologies, which could in the future materially and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
In some instances, third parties may have an obligation to indemnify us for liabilities related to litigation or governmental investigations, and they may be unable to, or fail to, fulfill such obligations. If such third parties failed to indemnify us, we would be financially responsible, which could adversely affect our financial condition and cash flow. For example, on October 31, 2018, we acquired MLOA by way of purchase of the then-outstanding equity of MLOA. Prior to the acquisition, on February 2, 2018, a former MLOA employee, Beau Charbonneau, filed a complaint against MLOA in United States District Court for the District of Kansas. The complaint alleges, among other things, that MLOA improperly classified its team leader roles as exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and that it failed to pay its loan officers for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in any work week. The complaint also asserts wage-related claims under the Kansas Wage Payment Act and under Kansas common law. On December 6, 2018, the court issued an order conditionally certifying the case as a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act and authorized the plaintiff’s attorneys to send notice of the case to impacted team leaders and loan officers advising them of the case and their opportunity to join as a plaintiff. The case is currently comprised of 167 current and former loan officers and team leaders. On June 30, 2020, the court granted MLOA’s motion for partial summary judgment on the plaintiffs’ state law claims and denied a motion to certify those claims as moot, leaving in place only the FLSA claims. On September 14, 2020, the court granted Plaintiffs’ partial summary judgment motion on MLOA’s claims that its team leads were classified properly as exempt from the overtime provisions of the FLSA. On January 11, 2021, the court denied MLOA’s motion to decertify the FLSA collective action. The case currently is set for jury trial commencing on June 7, 2021. Zillow Group and its affiliates are indemnified for losses incurred in connection with this matter by certain of the prior stockholders of MLOA. Additionally, in accordance with the equity purchase agreement governing the acquisition of MLOA, any costs incurred related to this matter will be paid directly by those same certain prior stockholders of MLOA. Although we do not believe a loss to Zillow Group is probable, should the sellers of MLOA fail to indemnify us for losses related to this matter, our financial condition may be negatively impacted.
Risks Related to Our Financial Position
We Incurred Significant Operating Losses in the Past and We May Not Be Able to Generate Sufficient Revenue to Be Profitable Over the Long Term.
We have incurred significant net operating losses in the past and, as of December 31, 2020, we had an accumulated deficit of $1.1 billion. Although we have experienced significant growth in revenue, our revenue growth rate may decline in the future as the result of a variety of factors, including the maturation of our business. At the same time, we also expect our costs to increase in future periods as we continue to expend substantial financial resources to develop and expand our business, including with respect to:
•expansion of Zillow Offers;
•expansion of Zillow Home Loans;
•product development;
•sales and marketing;
•technology infrastructure;
•strategic opportunities, including commercial relationships and acquisitions; and
•general and administrative expenses, including legal and accounting expenses related to being a public company.
These investments may not result in increased revenue or growth in our business. If we fail to continue to grow our revenue and overall business and to manage our expenses, we may incur significant losses in the future and not be able to achieve or maintain profitability.
Servicing Our Debt Requires a Significant Amount of Cash, and We May Not Have Sufficient Cash Flow From Our Business to Pay Our Substantial Debt, Settle Conversions of Our Senior Convertible Notes, or Repurchase Our Convertible Senior Notes upon a Fundamental Change.
We utilize several forms of debt to provide capital for the continued growth and operation of our business, such as tranches of convertible senior notes, bi-lateral credit facilities for Zillow Offers, and warehouse and repurchase facilities for Zillow Home Loans. Our indebtedness includes the $373.8 million aggregate principal amount under our Convertible Senior Notes due in 2023 (the “2023 Notes”), the $673.0 million aggregate principal amount under our Convertible Senior Notes due in 2024 (the “2024 Notes”), the $565.0 million aggregate principal amount under our Convertible Senior Notes due in 2025 (the “2025 Notes”), the $500.0 million aggregate principal amount under our Convertible Senior Notes due in 2026 (the “2026 Notes”), and all amounts outstanding under our credit facilities for Zillow Offers (maximum borrowing capacity of $1.5 billion as of December 31, 2020) and mortgage debt facilities (maximum borrowing capacity of $375.0 million as of December 31, 2020). Our ability to make payments on the principal of, to pay interest on or to refinance our indebtedness depends on our future performance and, if applicable, the value of collateral, which is subject to economic, industry, competitive and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not continue to generate cash flow from operations in the future sufficient to service our debt and make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to extend or refinance our indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms, which could result in a default on our debt obligations, including our convertible senior notes, credit facilities, or otherwise.
Holders of our convertible senior notes have the right to require us to repurchase their notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change at a repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest. Holders of our convertible senior notes may elect to convert their notes at various time and pursuant to specific circumstances, as provided in the corresponding indenture. When such an election is made, we may opt to settle any such conversion by delivering solely shares of our Class C capital stock, solely cash payments, or a combination of Class C capital stock and cash payments after consideration of various factors, including the price of our Class C capital stock, market factors, liquidity, and the needs of our business. Upon conversion of our convertible senior notes, unless we elect to deliver solely shares of our Class C capital stock to settle such conversion (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we will be required to make cash payments in respect of the notes being converted. We may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to make repurchases of the notes surrendered therefor or at the time the notes are being converted. Our failure to repurchase our convertible senior notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the indenture or to pay any cash payable on future conversions of the notes would constitute an event of default. If the repayment of any indebtedness were to be accelerated because of such event of default (whether under the notes or otherwise), we may not have sufficient funds to repay the indebtedness and repurchase the notes or make cash payments upon conversions thereof. An event of default under the indenture may lead to an acceleration of our convertible senior notes. Any such acceleration could result in our bankruptcy. In a bankruptcy, the holders of our convertible senior notes would have a claim to our assets that is senior to the claims of our equity holders.
In addition, our significant indebtedness, combined with our other financial obligations and contractual commitments, could have other important consequences. For example, it could:
•make us more vulnerable to adverse changes in general United States and worldwide economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation;
•limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and our industry;
•place us at a disadvantage compared to our competitors who have less debt; and
•limit our ability to borrow additional amounts for working capital and other general corporate purposes, including to fund possible acquisitions of, or investments in, complementary businesses, products, services and technologies.
Any of these factors could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, if we incur additional indebtedness, the risks related to our business and our ability to service or repay our indebtedness would increase.
The Credit and Debt Facilities that Provide Capital for Zillow Offers and Zillow Home Loans Include Covenants and Other Provisions that May Restrict Our Operating Activities, Expose Us to the Possibility of Foreclosure on Our Ownership Interests, and Have a Material Effect on Our Liquidity. They Also Incorporate Variable Interest Rates that May Subject Us to Interest Rate Risk, Which Could Cause Our Debt Service Obligations to Increase Significantly.
Through certain of our subsidiaries, we have entered into debt agreements to provide capital for the growth and operation of our businesses, including bi-lateral credit facilities to support Zillow Offers and warehouse and repurchase facilities to support Zillow Home Loans. The terms of these debt agreements and related financing documents require Zillow Group and certain of its subsidiaries, as applicable, to comply with a number of customary financial and other covenants, such as maintaining certain levels of liquidity, tangible net worth, leverage ratios, adequate insurance coverage and market capitalization. These covenants may limit our operational flexibility and may restrict our ability to engage in transactions that we believe would otherwise be in the best interests of our shareholders. Additionally, undrawn amounts are not committed, meaning the applicable lender is not obligated to advance loan funds in excess of outstanding borrowings. Further, borrowing base requirements associated with these debt agreements may prevent us from drawing upon our total maximum capacity under these financing arrangements if sufficient eligible collateral, in accordance with these debt agreements, is not available. Refer to Note 14 of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information on our Zillow Offers credit facilities and Zillow Home Loans warehouse and repurchase facilities. Upon the occurrence of any event of default under these debt agreements, the lenders will not be required to lend any additional amounts to us and could elect to declare all borrowings outstanding, together with accrued and unpaid interest and fees, to be immediately due and payable, even in the absence of a payment default. A default under one of our debt agreements could result in a cross-default under other debt agreements and our lenders could elect to declare outstanding amounts due and payable or terminate their commitments. If we fail to repay the amounts due under our credit facilities, the lenders of such debt may require the posting of additional collateral and/or proceed against the collateral granted to secure the credit facilities. The majority of the homes owned by our Zillow Offers business and loans originated by Zillow Home Loans are pledged as collateral to secure such indebtedness. As a result, a default under applicable debt covenants could have an adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.
Certain of our debt agreements are subject to margin calls based on the lender’s opinion of the value of the collateral securing such financing. A margin call would require the borrower to repay a portion of the outstanding borrowings. A large, unanticipated margin call could have a material effect on our liquidity.
At December 31, 2020, $670.2 million of our borrowings under our debt agreements was at variable rates of interest, thereby exposing us to interest rate risk. If interest rates increase, our debt service obligations on the variable rate indebtedness would increase even if the amount borrowed remained the same, and our net loss would increase. In addition, our variable rate indebtedness may use LIBOR as a benchmark for establishing the rate. LIBOR is the subject of recent national, international and other regulatory guidance and proposals for reform. These reforms and other pressures may cause LIBOR to disappear entirely or to perform differently than in the past. The consequences of these developments cannot be entirely predicted, but could include an increase in the cost of our variable rate indebtedness.
We May Need to Raise Additional Capital to Grow Our Business and We May Not Be Able to Raise Additional Capital on Terms Acceptable to Us, or At All.
Growing and operating our business, including through the development of new and enhanced products and services, may require significant cash outlays, liquidity reserves and capital expenditures. If cash on hand, cash generated from operations and cash equivalents and investment balances are not sufficient to meet our cash and liquidity needs, we may need to seek additional capital and we may not be able to raise the necessary cash on terms acceptable to us, or at all. For example, Zillow Offers requires significant cash to acquire, update and sell homes. As of December 31, 2020, three credit facilities are utilized to provide capital for Zillow Offers, and we may seek to enter into similar credit facilities or other debt arrangements to provide additional capital in the future. In addition, to provide capital for mortgage home loan originations for Zillow Home Loans, as of December 31, 2020, warehouse and repurchase facilities are currently utilized. Refer to Note 14 of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information on our revolving credit facilities and warehouse and repurchase facilities. Financing arrangements we pursue or assume may require us to grant certain rights, take certain actions, or agree to certain restrictions, that could negatively impact our business. If additional capital is not available to us on terms acceptable to us or at all, we may need to modify our business plans, which would harm our ability to grow our operations.
We Rely on Assumptions, Estimates, and Business Data to Calculate our Key Performance Indicators and Other Business Metrics, and Real or Perceived Inaccuracies in These Metrics May Harm our Reputation and Negatively Affect our Business.
Certain of our performance metrics are calculated using third party applications or internal company data that have not been independently verified. While these numbers are based on what we believe to be reasonable calculations for the applicable period of measurement, there are inherent challenges in measuring such information. For example, our measurement of visits and unique users may be affected by applications that automatically contact our servers to access our mobile applications and websites with no user action involved, and this activity can cause our system to count the user associated with such a device as a unique user or as a visit on the day such contact occurs.
We regularly review and may adjust our processes for calculating our performance metrics to improve accuracy. Our measure of certain metrics may differ from estimates published by third parties or from similarly-titled metrics of our competitors due to differences in methodology. If real estate professionals, our real estate partners or investors do not perceive our visits or unique users to be an accurate representation of our user engagement, or if we discover material inaccuracies in our visits or unique users, our reputation may be harmed, and real estate professionals and advertisers may be less willing to allocate their resources to our products and services, which could negatively affect our business and operating results.
We Expect Our Results of Operations to Fluctuate on a Quarterly and Annual Basis.
Our revenue and results of operations could vary significantly from period to period and may fail to match expectations as a result of a variety of factors, some of which are outside our control. The other risk factors discussed in this “Risk Factors” section may contribute to the variability of our quarterly and annual results. In addition, our results may fluctuate as a result of seasonal variances of home sales, which historically peak in the spring and summer seasons, fluctuations in the quantity of, and the price at which we are able to sell, our remnant advertising, and the size and seasonal variability of our real estate partners’ marketing budgets. The seasonal variance and cyclical nature of home sales may contribute to the variability of our revenue and results of operations for our Homes and Mortgages segments, in particular, which seasonality may be masked as those segments are growing. As a result of the potential variations in our revenue and results of operations, period-to-period comparisons may not be meaningful and the results of any one period should not be relied on as an indication of future performance. In addition, our results of operations may not meet the expectations of investors or public market analysts who follow us, which may adversely affect our stock price.
We Could Be Subject to Additional Income Tax Liabilities and Our Ability to Use Our Net Operating Loss Carryforwards and Certain Other Tax Attributes May Be Limited.
We are subject to federal and state income taxes in the United States and in Canada. Tax laws, regulations, and administrative practices in various jurisdictions may be subject to significant change, with or without notice, due to economic, political, and other conditions, and significant judgment is required in evaluating and estimating these taxes. Our effective tax rates could be affected by numerous factors, such as entry into new businesses and geographies, changes to our existing business and operations, acquisitions and investments and how they are financed, changes in our stock price, changes in our deferred tax assets and liabilities and their valuation, and changes in the relevant tax, accounting, and other laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles, and interpretations. We are required to take positions regarding the interpretation of complex statutory and regulatory tax rules and on valuation matters that are subject to uncertainty, and the Internal Revenue Service or other tax authorities may challenge the positions we take.
We have incurred losses during our history. To the extent that we continue to generate taxable losses, unused losses will carry forward to offset future taxable income, if any, until such unused losses expire, if at all. As of December 31, 2020, we had federal net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $1.7 billion, state net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $53.2 million (tax effected), and net tax credit carryforwards of approximately $88.8 million. Under the Tax Act, as modified by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), United States federal net operating loss carryforwards generated in taxable periods beginning after December 31, 2017, may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such net operating loss carryforwards in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020 is limited to 80% of taxable income. It is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the Tax Act or the CARES Act.
Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code, if a corporation undergoes an ownership change, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes, such as research tax credits, to offset its post-change income or income tax liability may be limited. In connection with our August 2013 public offering of our Class A common stock, we experienced an ownership change that triggered Sections 382 and 383, which may limit our ability to utilize net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards. In connection with our February 2015 acquisition of Trulia, Inc., Trulia, Inc. experienced an ownership change that triggered Section 382 and 383, which may limit Zillow Group’s ability to utilize Trulia, Inc.’s net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common and Capital Stock and Debt Instruments
Our Class A Common Stock and Class C Capital Stock Prices May Be Volatile, and the Value of an Investment in Our Class A Common Stock and Class C Capital Stock May Decline.
An active, liquid and orderly market for our Class A common stock and Class C capital stock may not be sustained, which could depress the trading price of our Class A common stock and Class C capital stock. The trading price of our Class A common stock and Class C capital stock has at times experienced price volatility and may continue to be volatile. For example, since shares of our Class A common stock began trading in February 2015, the closing price of our Class A common stock has ranged from $17.06 per share to $146.69 per share (adjusted for the August 2015 stock split effected in the form of a dividend) through December 31, 2020. Since shares of our Class C capital stock began trading in August 2015, the closing price of our Class C capital stock has ranged from $16.01 per share to $141.23 per share through December 31, 2020. The market price of our Class A common stock and Class C capital stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to many of the risk factors discussed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and others beyond our control, including:
•actual or anticipated fluctuations in our financial condition and results of operations;
•changes in projected operational and financial results;
•addition or loss of significant customers;
•actual or anticipated changes in our growth rate relative to that of our competitors;
•announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital-raising activities or commitments;
•announcements of technological innovations or new offerings by us or our competitors;
•additions or departures of key personnel;
•changes in laws or regulations applicable to our services;
•fluctuations in the valuation of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us;
•the inclusion, exclusion, or deletion of our Class A common stock and Class C capital stock from any trading indices, such as the S&P 500 Index;
•issuance of new or updated research or reports by securities analysts;
•sales of our Class A common stock and Class C capital stock by us or our shareholders;
•issuances of our Class C capital stock upon conversion of our 2023 Notes, 2024 Notes, 2025 Notes or 2026 Notes;
•stock price and volume fluctuations attributable to inconsistent trading volume levels of our shares; and
•general economic and market conditions.
Furthermore, the stock markets in recent years have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of the equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political and market conditions such as recessions, interest rate changes or international currency fluctuations, may negatively impact the market price of our Class A common stock and Class C capital stock. In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We have in the past been and are currently the target of this type of litigation, and we may continue to be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Past, current, and future securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention from other business concerns, which could harm our business, results of operations or financial condition.
The Structure of Our Capital Stock as Contained in Our Charter Documents Has the Effect of Concentrating Voting Control With Our Founders, and Limits Your Ability to Influence Corporate Matters.
Since Zillow Group’s inception, our capital structure has included authorized Class A common stock and authorized Class B common stock. Our Class A common stock entitles its holder to one vote per share, and our Class B common stock entitles its holder to 10 votes per share. All shares of Class B common stock have been and are held or controlled by our founders, Richard Barton and Lloyd Frink. As of December 31, 2020, Mr. Barton’s holdings and Mr. Frink’s holdings represented approximately 30.7% and 20.0%, respectively, of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock.
For the foreseeable future, Mr. Barton and Mr. Frink will therefore have significant control over our management and affairs and will be able to control most matters requiring shareholder approval, including the election or removal (with or without cause) of directors and the approval of any significant corporate transaction, such as a merger or other sale of us or our assets. In addition, because our Class C capital stock carries no voting rights (except as required by applicable law or as expressly provided in our amended and restated articles of incorporation), the issuance of Class C capital stock (instead of Class A common stock) could prolong the duration of Mr. Barton’s and Mr. Frink’s relative ownership of our voting power. This concentrated control could delay, defer or prevent a change of control, merger, consolidation, takeover, or other business combination involving us that you, as a shareholder, may otherwise support. This concentrated control could also discourage a potential investor from acquiring our Class A common stock or Class C capital stock due to the limited voting power of such stock relative to the Class B common stock and might harm the market price of our Class A common stock and Class C capital stock.
Future Sales of Our Stock in the Public Market Could Cause Our Stock Price to Decline.
Our Class A common stock began trading on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on February 18, 2015, and our Class C capital stock began trading on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on August 17, 2015. We cannot predict the effect, if any, that market sales of shares or the availability of shares for sale will have on the prevailing trading price of our Class A common stock and Class C capital stock from time to time. There is currently no contractual restriction on our ability to issue additional shares, and all of our outstanding shares are generally freely tradable, except for shares held by our “affiliates” as defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act, which may be sold in compliance with the volume restrictions of Rule 144. Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock and Class C capital stock could cause our stock price to decline. In addition, we may in the future issue shares of Class C capital stock for financings, acquisitions or equity incentives. If we issue shares of Class C capital stock in the future, such issuances would have a dilutive effect on the economic interest of our Class A common stock.
If Securities or Industry Analysts Do Not Publish Research or Publish Inaccurate or Unfavorable Research About Our Business, Our Class A Common Stock and Class C Capital Stock Price and Trading Volume Could Decline.
The trading market for our Class A common stock and Class C capital stock depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about our company. If few or no securities or industry analysts cover our company, the market price of our publicly-traded stock could be negatively impacted. If securities or industry analysts cover us and if one or more of such analysts downgrade our stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of the analysts covering us fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decline, which could cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.
If We Issue Additional Equity Securities or Convertible Debt to Raise Capital or Elect to Settle Conversions of Our Convertible Senior Notes in Stock, It May Have a Dilutive Effect on Shareholders’ Investment.
If we raise additional capital through further issuances of equity or convertible debt securities or elect to settle conversions of our convertible senior notes in shares of our Class C capital stock, our existing shareholders could suffer significant dilution in their percentage ownership of us. Moreover, any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of holders of our common stock.
The Capped Call Transactions May Affect the Value of Our 2023 Notes, 2024 Notes, 2025 Notes, 2026 Notes and Our Class C Capital Stock.
In connection with the pricing of each of the 2023 Notes, 2024 Notes, 2025 Notes, and 2026 Notes, we entered into capped call transactions with certain financial institutions (the “option counterparties”). The capped call transactions are expected generally to reduce the potential dilution in connection with the conversion of the 2023 Notes, 2024 Notes, 2025 Notes, or 2026 Notes and/or offset any cash payments we are required to make in excess of the principal amount of converted notes, as the case may be. In connection with our Convertible Senior Notes due in 2021 (“2021 Notes”), the balance of which we redeemed in late 2020, we exercised our right to keep the associated capped call confirmations open through the expiration of the 2021 Notes, which caused short term dilution. We may pursue similar options with the capped call confirmations associated with each of the 2023 Notes, 2024 Notes, 2025 Notes, and 2026 Notes in the future.
The option counterparties or their respective affiliates may modify their hedge positions by entering into or unwinding various derivative transactions with respect to our Class C capital stock and/or purchasing or selling our Class C capital stock or other securities of ours in secondary market transactions prior to the maturity of each of the 2023 Notes, 2024 Note, 2025 Notes, and 2026 Notes (and are likely to do so during any observation period related to a conversion of 2023 Notes, 2024 Notes, 2025 Notes, or 2026 Notes or in connection with any repurchase of 2023 Notes, 2024 Notes, 2025 Notes, or 2026 Notes by us). This activity could cause or avoid an increase or a decrease in the market price of our Class C capital stock, the 2023 Notes, the 2024 Notes, 2025 Notes, or the 2026 Notes.
Anti-Takeover Provisions in Our Charter Documents and Under Washington Law Could Make an Acquisition of Us More Difficult, Limit Attempts by Shareholders to Replace or Remove Our Management and Affect the Market Price of Our Stock.
Provisions in our articles of incorporation and bylaws, as amended and restated, may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management. Our amended and restated articles of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws include provisions, some of which will become effective only after the date, which we refer to as the threshold date, on which the Class B common stock controlled by our founders represents less than 7% of the aggregate number of shares of our outstanding Class A common stock and Class B common stock, that:
•set forth the structure of our capital stock, which concentrates voting control of matters submitted to a vote of our shareholders with the holders of our Class B common stock, which is held or controlled by our founders;
•authorize our board of directors to issue, without further action by our shareholders, up to 30,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, subject, prior to the threshold date, to the approval rights of the holders of our Class B common stock;
•establish that our board of directors will be divided into three classes, Class I, Class II and Class III, with each class serving three-year staggered terms;
•prohibit cumulative voting in the election of directors;
•provide that, after the threshold date, our directors may be removed only for cause;
•provide that, after the threshold date, vacancies on our board of directors may be filled only by the affirmative vote of a majority of directors then in office or by the sole remaining director;
•provide that only our board of directors may change the board’s size;
•specify that special meetings of our shareholders can be called only by the chair of our board of directors, our board of directors, our chief executive officer, our president or, prior to the threshold date, holders of at least 25% of all the votes entitled to be cast on any issue proposed to be considered at any such special meeting;
•establish an advance notice procedure for shareholder proposals to be brought before a meeting of shareholders, including proposed nominations of persons for election to our board of directors;
•require the approval of our board of directors or the holders of at least two-thirds of all the votes entitled to be cast by shareholders generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single group, to amend or repeal our bylaws; and
•require the approval of not less than two-thirds of all the votes entitled to be cast on a proposed amendment, voting together as a single group, to amend certain provisions of our articles of incorporation.
Prior to the threshold date, our directors can be removed with or without cause by holders of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock, voting together as a single group, and vacancies on the board of directors may be filled by such shareholders, voting together as a single group. Given the structure of our capital stock, our founders, Richard Barton and Lloyd Frink, who hold or control our Class B common stock, will have the ability for the foreseeable future to control these shareholder actions. See the risk factor above titled “The Structure of Our Capital Stock as Contained in Our Charter Documents Has the Effect of Concentrating Voting Control With our Founders, and Limits Your Ability to Influence Corporate Matters.”
The provisions described above, after the threshold date, may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our shareholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for shareholders to replace members of our board of directors, which board is responsible for appointing our management. In addition, because we are incorporated in the State of Washington, we are governed by the provisions of Chapter 23B.19 of the Washington Business Corporation Act, which prohibits certain business combinations between us and certain significant shareholders unless specified conditions are met. These provisions may also have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of our company, even if this change of control would benefit our shareholders.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
Not applicable.
Item 2. Properties.
We have various operating leases for office space, which are summarized as of December 31, 2020 in the table below, by reportable segment. Zillow Group has three segments: Homes, Internet, Media & Technology (“IMT”), and Mortgages. We believe that our facilities are adequate for our current needs.
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Location
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Purpose
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Primary Reportable Segment(s)
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Approximate
Square Feet
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Principal Lease
Expiration Dates
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Seattle, Washington
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Corporate headquarters for Zillow Group
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All segments
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386,275
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2024
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New York, New York
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General office space
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Homes and IMT
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183,479
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2030
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San Francisco, California
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General office space
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All segments
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105,897
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2023
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Irvine, California
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General office space
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All segments
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80,312
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2027
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Denver, Colorado
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General office space
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All segments
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73,781
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2021
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Overland Park, Kansas
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General office space
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Mortgages
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70,373
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2024
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Atlanta, Georgia
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General office space
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Homes and IMT
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51,822
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2025
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In addition, we lease office space in several other locations in the United States and Canada. See Note 2, Note 13 and Note 19 of Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for more information about our lease commitments.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings.
For information regarding legal proceedings in which we are involved, see Note 19 under the subsection titled “Legal Proceedings” in our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not applicable.