Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by The Negotiator. Read the original article for full details.
Zoopla COO Rich Hayes Departs Portal After Three Years
Zoopla's Chief Operating Officer, Rich Hayes, has quit the property portal to concentrate on his own business interests. Hayes had been in the role for exactly three years and has also stepped down as a director.
A Zoopla spokesperson told The Negotiator: "Rich Hayes has decided to move on from Zoopla after three years as COO, he leaves to pursue his ambition of leading a business again. We thank him for his contribution and wish him well."
Hayes's Other Roles
Hayes is a strategic adviser at Mojo Mortgages, a company he co-founded, and a non-executive director at AI financial advice platform Unbiased.
His departure comes after Paul Whitehead, a former senior executive who returned from collapsed online car retailer Cazoo, was appointed CEO at Zoopla in March last year. At that point, it was said Hayes would be in charge of the day-to-day running of the portal.
Views on AI and Agents
Hayes calls AI a game changer on his LinkedIn profile, writing: "AI is the most exciting technology shift of my career. At Zoopla, we've increasingly embedded AI into how we build software, develop products and operate the business."
In an exclusive interview with The Negotiator last year, he said that estate agents were feeling "a bit squeezed" by the day-to-day costs they face, and that Zoopla was mindful of this. Any progress Zoopla makes "must not be at the expense of agents", he added.
Later in the year, he wrote to agents to stress that the portal remained a "vital marketing partner", just a few days after the company reported losses of £5.8 million.
CoStar and OTM
In the same interview, Hayes said that when global giant CoStar Group bought OTM in 2023: "We haven't got a sore neck from looking over our shoulder." He did, however, admit that the Zoopla team became "a bit more focused".
For letting agents and inventory clerks, the departure of a senior figure at one of the UK's major portals is worth monitoring, particularly given Hayes's recent public assurances to agents about Zoopla's relationship with its agency customers.
Source: The Negotiator