Spencer Rascoff


Spencer Rascoff is an investor, entrepreneur and company leader. Spencer is the co-founder & executive chairman of dot.LA, a news and events company based in Los Angeles. He also is the co-founder and former CEO of Zillow Group, and one of the co-founders of Hotwire.com. Rascoff is on the board of directors of Zillow Group, TripAdvisor and Hutch. Additionally, Rascoff is a professor at Harvard Business School and hosts the "Office Hours" podcast.

Early life and education

Rascoff was born to his father, Joseph, who was a manager and producer for numerous well known musicians including The Rolling Stones, U2, and Paul Simon. Rascoff grew up in New York and then Los Angeles, where he attended Harvard-Westlake. He received his A.B. from Harvard University.

Career

After graduating from college, Rascoff worked as a private equity investor at TPG Capital and as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, and Allen & Company.
In 1999, at the age of 24, Rascoff co-founded Hotwire.com, a leading Internet travel company, which a few years later he sold to InterActiveCorp. He then served as vice president of lodging for Expedia before leaving to co-found Zillow.
Rascoff served various roles through the years including chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and VP of Marketing until his appointment to CEO in 2010. As CEO, Rascoff has led Zillow through its 2011 IPO and 15 acquisitions. In 2017, Spencer was named "The Most Powerful Person in Residential Real Estate" by the Swanepoel Power 200. Spencer was also awarded Glassdoor’s Highest Rated CEO recognition for 2017. He was named one of America’s 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 and Under by Forbes magazine in 2012 and 2013. Rascoff stepped down as CEO in February 2019. In April 2020, Rascoff resigned from Zillow's board of directors.

Other projects

In 2015, he co-wrote and published his first book, the New York Times’ Best Seller “Zillow Talk: Rewriting the Rules of Real Estate.” Rascoff is also the host of “Office Hours,” a podcast featuring candid conversations between prominent executives on leadership and management topics. He is also a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and on the Board of Directors of TripAdvisor.

Personal life

Rascoff lives in Los Angeles and is married to Dr. Nanci Rascoff.