Is Zillow having its AOL moment?

America Online, Inc. (AOL) was one of the most powerful companies in America. For millions of people, it was “The Internet.” While AOL produced some of its own proprietary content, its primary play was that of a master aggregator. It didn’t write most of the news, produce the sports scores or build the vast majority of websites people wanted to visit. AOL simply aggregated it into one easy destination, and for years that was an extraordinarily valuable business. Consumers loved the convenience. Content creators went along with it because AOL had the audience. Then broadband arrived. Content creators could suddenly reach consumers directly, and AOL’s control over distribution, its whole competitive advantage, evaporated almost overnight. The content kept its value. AOL, the aggregator and distributor, lost its leverage. A quarter of a century later, we think Zillow may be facing a similar challenge. Zillow didn’t create the content that made its business valuable. Agents and brokers did: Wvery listing photo, floor plan, virtual tour, property description, and pricing decision started with them. Zillow became the default consumer home search destination Zillow arrived to find a highl...