I am reminded of the two idiot brothers Duke and Duke who want the machines truned back on to unwind their losses. I would not put that past Bush and Cheney .
I asked the good folk at Zillow to create Zillow 1.0 for nostalgic reasons so people could look back at their prices from 2006. They laughed of course, ROFL to be exact, but there is a model there!
I can’t do it all for them.
PS – Before all the agent hate mail remeber if you are good, this post does not matter. I speak in generalities.
I love Zillow. I have no passion for real estate, but that does not stop me from digging their service, site and features. They are finally bringingdisruption possibilities to an ancient industry. Not by themselves of course, but still. Zillow is the poster child for a perfect Web 2.0 company…so far.
Here is the bummer for Yahoo. While TechMeme nerds debate whether Yahoo should buy facebook, the real news could come frm a Comcast or AT&T swooping in and trying to buy Yahoo.
Talk about insult to injury for the management team at Yahoo. They deserve it. It’s like Calacanis getting exiled at Netscape – fitting!
Me – I could care less. They have not delivered. Talk is cheap – the share price says it all.
Google is just loving all this action. Here’s why. Whether YouTube works or not, they have Yahoo and everybody else in old media running around like little girls reunited after an HOUR APART IN GRADE SCHOOL.
Here is what SHOULD happen.
Exxon or Phillip Morris should buy Yahoo.
Who the f@$@ck would expect that? Not Google! Definately not Wall Street. Here is why it could work:
First – both companies could easily afford it.
Second – THEY ARE TRULY GLOBAL BRANDS.
Third – it would confuse the shit out of Google. Maybe reason number 1 why they should do it.
Fourth – Search points. The only chance for Yahoo to beat Google in search at this point is to offer something RADICAL. How about gas and cigarettes for search.
The point is that no one is thinking outside the box anymore on Wall Street and it sucks. Bankers are wimps, CNBC is braindead and hedge funds are all doing the same boring stuff.
While everybody in Web 2.0 is concocting cool mashups (ZILLOW anyone) – no one on Wallstreet has even heard of it.
If I was a competitor to Google, I would stop freaking out over YouTube (mini tsunami), because you may miss the REAL TSUNAMI.
I don’t know the order of acquisition, but if I was in charge of Google, I would be going for the FREAKING JUGULAR of TECH and the Consumer.
1. To keep people scratching their heads I would do a quick swallow of Zillow – JAB, JAB, CROSS! Zillow gives Google an entry into the biggest consumer market and YouTube gives Zillowers a chance to quicly put a tour up with all the facts. Throw in some personal touches and get the buyer out to see your home, with directions from Google and all the facts from Zillow.
2.3. and 4. 5. and 6. can all be announced on the same day. Apple, RIMM, Ebay, Akamai and Adobe.
Take a big picture of all the CEO’s flipping off AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo, News Corp, Diller and the Justice Department on the front lawn of GoogleCity USA .
Apple would likely have been hostile a few months back, but with Schmidt on Apple’s board, the SEED is in place. The rest get their huge payday and go away if they don’t want to play.
To ensure the deals go through – BUY TASER and arm the employees and LOCKHEED MARTIN to protect the Googleplex or Googleville.
What the hell – after taking a few weeks off, BUY PHILLIP MORRIS and shut it the fuck down so that people live long enough to enjoy all the toys! BUT – make sure you push through legalized marijuana. Let’s face it. How much more fun would surfing the web and YouTube be. Shit, you may not even have to buy Akamai, because the web will seem fast enough.
PS – I would than buy Chipotle’s because you need to feed eveybody !
PPS or PSS – Owning Sanofi – maker of Ambien – may be a little tuck in so that we could control everyone’s sleep habits. BUT THAT’S IT!
PPSS or PSSP or whatever – The new guys will be chirping about buying an airline. NEVER buy an airline. It would kill everything .
I think it is funny and disarming the way they call their site BETA. They have raised $57 million and are deeply integrated into Yahoo Real Estate. The only people who don’t see this train coming are the big, fat, useless agencies and the teams of underqualified, overpaid agents.
Zillow has attacked from a little corner of the real estate market through a Google Map mash and now has the potential to be a real estate juggernaut.
TechCrunch has covered Zillow often and well and has a good update on a new feature. In a nutshell:
On Wednesday morning they are releasing new features which will allow users to contribute updated and detailed information about their own homes to Zillow’s national database.
I see Zillow going vertical and fast. This feature is something that will get users to do KEY HEAVY LIFTING that will allow the Company quick access into areas like brokerage. Millions of homes for sale by Zillow would help brand, bringing new users on-line in a positive viral way.
Can’t happen fast enough for me. Just don’t turn this into a social networking site
Real estate agents are a favorite pet peeve of mine. They mainly suck. Period.
It was the same story for travel agents and stockbrokers and they have become dinosaurs, those remaining offering much different and BETTER services than the old days.
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