Zillow ups IPO price, valued at $500 million

NEW YORK: Online real estate listings website Zillow increased the price of its initial public offering Friday, valuing the company at up to $500 million.

Zillow, in an updated filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, said it was increasing its debut price to between $16 and $18 a share from the initial $12 to $14 a share. Zillow, which will be listed on Wall Street using the ticker symbol "Z," plans a placement of 3.46 million shares of common stock and as many as 3.98 million if there is strong demand from investors.

That would raise between $58.7 and $71.7 million dollars depending on the price and give Zillow a valuation of as high as $496.6 million. Zillow said it will raise an additional $5.5 million in a private placement of stock with Technology Crossover Ventures. According to Renaissance Capital, Zillow will make its debut on the NASDAQ next week.

Launched in 2006, the Seattle, Washington-based Zillow.com is an online resource for estimated home prices, rental potential, tax records, sales histories and other information about millions of US properties. The website made its debut backed by 32 million dollars in venture capital funding and was co-founded by Richard Barton, creator of online travel service Expedia.

Zillow billed itself as the leading real estate information marketplace and said in the filing with the SEC that it was "transforming the way people make home-related decisions." Zillow said in the paperwork that it is not making a profit and reported a net loss of $6.77 million last year and $865,000 in the three months ending on March 31 of this year.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011