Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Zillow CEO Buys House In LA
Spencer Rascoff, the CEO of real estate site Zillow, is heading to Los Angeles, after buying a $20M mansion in Brentwood. According to a note sent to employees in May, Rascoff will split his time between Seattle and Los Angeles. Rascoff said that LA is where he and his wife grew up, and where their parents live, and the move is for "personal family reasons." It's unclear how Rascoff's presence in the city might or might not benefit the local tech community, as Los Angeles is a popular location for homes for jet-setting technology executives and entrepreneurs, including Oracle founder Larry Ellison (Malibu), Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson (Beverly Hills), and Google chairman Eric Schmidt (also Beverly Hills)--none of whom have had much interaction with the local tech community since their home purchases. Zillow apparently noted that it does have an office in the Los Angeles area, in Irvine--albeit, a commute that could take 2.5 hours in traffic for Rascoff via car. Rascoff has talked about growing up in Beverly Hills in the past.