Crossing the Rubicon: Zillow Sues MLSs
Small act with big picture implications
Happy New Year, everybody! Welcome to 2024, which just about everyone I’ve spoken to so far thinks will be a “momentous turning point” type of a year… just most of them think it’ll be a momentous turn to the downside. Doomporn fans can rejoice; everybody else can grimace.
Either way, while this story broke before the New Year, I really didn’t want to write anything after my Seven Predictions post so… this ends up being what I have to discuss as my very first post in 2024. Perhaps that is a harbinger in and of itself….
In any event, you might have seen the news that Zillow has taken an unprecedented step in its decade-plus history of being used and abused by the real estate industry. Zillow has filed a lawsuit in federal court against two MLSs — ARMLS in Arizona and MetroMLS in Wisconsin. The suit alleges antitrust violations under §1 (Group Boycott) and §2 of the Sherman Act (Attempt to Monopolize).
This is a “crossing the Rubicon” moment. It is a relatively minor act, but one that has big implications for the future.