Zillow made a big offer to Compass

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Zillow made a big offer to Compass

Here’s some news that I just found out regarding Compass CEO Reffkin and the Zillow fight:

Reffkin also shared insights about an alleged deal he says Zillow offered to Compass last year.

Reffkin said that Zillow offered Compass up to $1.6 billion “if we prevented our agents from marketing off Zillow.”

Zillow enacted a policy that aimed to prevent large brokerages from creating, and MLSs from allowing, private listing networks if the listings weren’t also marketed on Zillow.

The policy was a move to ensure that consumers could see the broadest possible source of active real estate listings on Zillow’s platforms, a move that the company believed would also allow it to sell more products to real estate agents.

Reffkin put it another way.

“They’re trying to penalize the agents in brokerage firms to force people to list everything on Zillow,” Reffkin said. “So then they offer $1.3 billion, $1.6 billion. And I said no.”

The alleged offer was referenced in Compass’ findings of fact and conclusions of law, which was filed in mid-December.

That filing referred to the alleged offer as a “potential partnership” between Compass and Zillow that included “a variety of product offerings and benefits that Zillow predicted would result in Compass earning an additional $1.3 to $1.6 billion annually and doubling Compass’ market share.”