Zillow Acquires Follow Up Boss for up to $500,000,000
On Nov. 1, 2023, Zillow Group issued a press release via PR Newswire, “Zillow Group to Acquire Follow Up Boss....”
The acquisition purchase price includes $400 million of initial cash consideration and up to $100 million in a potential cash earnout. Follow Up Boss has approximately 100 full-time employees who will join Zillow Group once the acquisition closes, including co-founders Dan Corkill and Tom Markov.
Source: 💁🏻♀️ PR Newswire — Zillow Group to Acquire Follow Up Boss
Full Stop — Zillow is Paying up to a Half Billion Dollars?!
At the time, November 2023, $500,000,000 seemed like an incredible price for a niche-market CRM.
On Jan. 21, 2026, I wrote the following in an email to the Zillow Group Legal Department, covered in Chapter 10.
Real estate agents’ biggest competitor buys the real estate CRM business they use for $500,000,000 in 2023. I’d estimate the value of FUB as a business, $50,000,000 on a good day? The other $450,000,000 was to obtain its customers’ data who are also your competitors.
The Zillow Terms of Use
7. User Materials
A. UGC Definition; License Grant. Certain portions of the Services may allow users to upload or otherwise provide the Zillow Companies images, photos, video, data, text, listings, and other content (“User Materials”). Absent any additional terms provided in your Product’s Terms, by uploading or otherwise providing User Materials to the Services, you grant us an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free worldwide license…
Source: 💁🏻♀️ Zillow Terms of Use — 7. User Materials — Captured March 30, 2026
User Materials includes “data, … and other content.” “Everything” is the pithy version.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission is a ground-truth source on matters material to the operations and valuation of a publicly traded company. Under Sarbanes-Oxley Sections 302 and 906, the CEO and CFO must personally certify in writing that their company’s SEC annual and quarterly reports fairly present its financial condition.
Zillow Group, Inc. Form 10-Q — March 31, 2024, Page 14
Acquisition of Follow Up Boss
Goodwill represents the expected synergies from combining the acquired assets and the operations of the acquirer as well as intangible assets that do not qualify for separate recognition.
Total Preliminary Purchase Price $484,000,000 Intangible Asset $86,000,000 [Net Misc Assets & Liabilities] ($3,000,000) Subtotal $401,000,000 Goodwill $401,000,000
Source: 💁🏻♀️ United States Securities and Exchange Commission | Zillow Group, Inc. Form 10-Q — March 31, 2024, Page 14
Source: 🛜 United States Securities and Exchange Commission | Zillow Group, Inc. Form 10-Q — March 31, 2024
Zillow Group, Inc. recorded a preliminary purchase price of $484,000,000 for Follow Up Boss.
Zillow assigned about $83,000,000 to identifiable net assets, including $86,000,000 of intangible assets: $50,000,000 for developed technology, $34,000,000 for customer relationships, and $2,000,000 for trade names and trademarks.
The remaining $401,000,000 is recognized as Goodwill.
Assets That Do Not Qualify for Separate Recognition
When Zillow bought Follow Up Boss, it acquired custody of the past and current IP of over 100,000 professionals. It continues collecting their IP today. Zillow grants itself a worldwide, royalty-free license to that IP through the Zillow Terms of Use, among other policies and terms.
In the event a professional wants to leave the platform, she is barricaded from the data that is rightfully hers. It is the intelligence about her relationships and the culmination of her professional work. It is the heart of her business.
Zillow Group’s preliminary purchase price for Follow Up Boss was $484,000,000. Its preliminary allocation records $401,000,000 as Goodwill, which includes assets that do not qualify for separate recognition.
Jean Scott Homes’ work, its relationships, and the intelligence that its IP provides are included in that Goodwill valuation.
Chapter 14: Zillow Responds Threatening Sanctions
To Be Continued
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