Barton has continued to guide his company with the sharp, disciplined strategic approach he has wielded since co-founding the company in 2006. The firm continues to dominate real estate web traffic, has refined its lead generation model and continues to grow its mortgage and rentals business.

After completing the firm’s pivot away from iBuying and strengthening the firm’s key business along the way, Barton handed the CEO reins to long-time executive Jeremy Wacksman in August 2024. Joining his fellow co-founder Lloyd Frink as co-executive chair gives him the space and time to continue doing what he does best – keeping an eye on the long-term strategic evolution of the business.

Some highlights Barton helped Zillow Group achieve in 2024, include:

• Sustained growth in its residential, rentals and mortgage businesses, which helped the company reach $581 billion in revenue for the first nine months of 2024, a growth of 14% from a year ago.
• Persistent portal dominance. Its 74.7 million average unique users to Zillow.com in the third quarter represents over double that of its nearest competitor, according to Similarweb data.
• Continuing its march toward its “Super App,” Zillow more tightly wove its mortgage offering to its lead generation business in 2024.

Despite Zillow Group’s many successes, profitability remained elusive for Barton and his firm in 2024. In the first three quarters of the year, the firm reported a net loss of $60 million. Although, this was an improvement over the $85 million for the same nine months in 2023, the company has not seen an overall profitable year since 2012.

Under Barton’s leadership, Zillow has become a leading portal with a foothold in all stages of the consumer real estate transaction experience and a technological platform that includes transaction management, showings and customer relationship management. Zillow Group’s innovation and expanding presence in consumer transactions put Barton in a key industry role, which merits No. 4 on the SP 200.