Spencer Rascoff

Last updated
Spencer Rascoff
Born (1975-10-24) October 24, 1975 (age 50)
Education Harvard University
OccupationChief executive officer of Match Group
Notable workCo-founder of Zillow Group, Pacaso, and Hotwire.com
SpouseNanci Rascoff
Children3

Spencer Rascoff (born October 24, 1975) is an American entrepreneur and businessman who serves as the chief executive officer of Match Group. He is the co-founder of Zillow Group, Pacaso, dot.la, Hotwire.com, and has created multiple startups through 75 & Sunny Ventures, his family office. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Rascoff is Jewish. He was born to Jane and Joseph Rascoff. His father was a business manager and tour producer for numerous well known musicians including The Rolling Stones, U2, and Paul Simon. [2] Rascoff grew up in New York and then Los Angeles, where he attended Harvard-Westlake. He received a degree in 1997 from Harvard University. [3]

Career

After graduating from college, Rascoff worked as a private equity investor at TPG Capital and also as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. [4]

In 1999, at the age of 24, Rascoff co-founded Hotwire.com, a leading Internet travel company, which a few years later was sold to InterActiveCorp for $685 million. Rascoff then served as vice president of lodging for Expedia before leaving to co-found Zillow. [5]

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. [6] As CEO, Rascoff led Zillow through its 2011 IPO and 15 acquisitions. [7] In 2015, he co-wrote and published his first book, Zillow Talk: Rewriting the Rules of Real Estate, which became a New York Times best seller. [8] In 2017, Rascoff was named "The Most Powerful Person in Residential Real Estate" by the Swanepoel Power 200. [7] Rascoff stepped down from his CEO position in February 2019. [9] In April 2020, Rascoff resigned from Zillow's board of directors. [10] [11]

In January 2020, Rascoff co-founded dot.la, a news site for the California tech startup industry. [12] In that same year, Rascoff held the position of Visiting Executive Professor at Harvard Business School, where he co-created and co-taught the “Managing Tech Ventures” course. [13]

In October 2020, Rascoff co-founded Pacaso, alongside Austin Allison. Pacaso is positioned as a real estate platform that makes second home ownership more accessible through shared ownership. [14] Pacaso has been described by some as an alternative take on the timeshare model of property ownership. [15] [16] [17]

In June 2021, Rascoff co-founded Recon Food with his daughter, Sophia Rascoff. The app uses technology to search a user's camera roll for all previous food-related photos and automatically upload them to the app. [18]

In February 2023, Rascoff co-founded Replify (previously known as heyLibby), an artificial intelligence-based customer service and sales software suite, with Tony Small and Anna Rodriguez. [19] [20] [21]

In February 2025, Rascoff was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Match Group by the board of directors. [22] In the next month, Rascoff commented on the state of Match Group’s apps via an open letter on LinkedIn, stating that the apps "have felt like a numbers game rather than a place to build real connections". In expressing the desire to change that sentiment, he asked employees to share their feedback about the apps confidentially. During Rascoff’s tenure with Match Group, artificial intelligence was implemented in product development across its brands. [23] He also made efforts to reduce Match Group’s overhead, cutting its workforce by 13%, which equated to roughly $100 million per year. [24] In July 2025, Rascoff replaced Faye Iosotaluno as chief executive officer at Tinder. [25] While leading Tinder, Rascoff oversaw the implementation of the Double Date, College Mode, Face Check, and AI-based message filtering features as the company shifted its focus to the Gen Z demographic. [26] [27] [28] The company also changed its delivery schedule for shipping code from twice-monthly to weekly. [26]

Board positions

Rascoff has previously served on the boards of various companies, including Palantir, TripAdvisor, and Zulily. [13] [29]

Bibliography

Personal life

Rascoff is married to his wife, Nanci. They have three children. [30] In 2025, Rascoff was recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal in the publication’s LA500. [31]

References

  1. ↑ Cao, Sissi (2 October 2023). "Zillow Cofounder Spencer Rascoff Talks Mortgage Rates and His New Startup: Interview". Observer.
  2. ↑ Sandomir, Richard (11 April 2017). "Joseph Rascoff, Who Had Rolling Stones' Tours Under His Thumb, Dies at 71". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ "Hr97 5th Reunion".
  4. ↑ Cao, Jing (3 August 2014). "Zillow CEO Rascoff plays the long game". The Seattle Times.
  5. ↑ Marino, Vivian (21 October 2014). "Spencer Rascoff". The New York Times.
  6. ↑ "About Us".
  7. 1 2 Stiles, Marc (Jan 9, 2017). "Report names Zillow CEO the most powerful person in real estate". Puget Sound Business Journal.
  8. ↑ "Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous Books - Best Sellers - February 22, 2015 - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  9. ↑ Salinas, Sara (2019-02-21). "Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff is out — co-founder Rich Barton is taking over". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  10. ↑ "Spencer Rascoff Leaves Zillow Board - The Real Deal". The Real Deal New York. 2020-04-07. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  11. ↑ "Spencer Rascoff departs Zillow Group board, 1 year after stepping down as CEO". GeekWire. 2020-04-07. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  12. ↑ Schlosser, Kurt (9 Jan 2020). "Former Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff launches dot.LA, a news site for Southern California tech". GeekWire . GeekWire, LLC. Retrieved 12 Nov 2020.
  13. 1 2 Kuhlman, Cara (9 Jul 2020). "Tech Moves: Zillow co-founder joins Palantir board; Hootsuite names new CEO; and more". GeekWire . GeekWire, LLC. Retrieved 12 Nov 2020.
  14. ↑ Parker, Will (October 2020). "WSJ News Exclusive | as Pandemic Boosts Suburban-Home Demand, Startup Sells a New Ownership Model". Wall Street Journal.
  15. ↑ Rosalsky, Greg (24 August 2021). "A Startup Is Turning Houses Into Corporations, And The Neighbors Are Fighting Back". NPR. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  16. ↑ Duarte, Jesse (13 April 2021). "Home co-ownership company sues St. Helena in dispute over definition of timeshare". Napa Valley Register. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  17. ↑ Journal, Will Parker | Photographs by Rachel Bujalski for The Wall Street (2021-06-20). "Napa Valley Feud Pits Real-Estate Startup Against Homeowners". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  18. ↑ SCHLOSSER, KURT (June 29, 2021). "Ex-Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff and teen daughter cook up a new food-focused social media startup". Geek Wire. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
  19. ↑ SOPER, TAYLOR (August 17, 2023). "Ex-Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff joins former colleagues to launch personal assistant AI startup". Geek Wire. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
  20. ↑ LAPIN, NICOLE (April 3, 2024). "Zillow Co-Founder Shares a 'Misunderstood' Truth About Starting, Funding and Selling Your Company". Entrepreneur. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
  21. ↑ SOPER, TAYLOR (April 2, 2025). "AI assistant startup heyLibby finds traction with gyms and tanning salons, raises $4.5M". Geek Wire. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
  22. ↑ Subin, Samantha (4 February 2025). "Match appoints Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff as CEO". CNBC.com.
  23. ↑ Lake, Sydney (14 March 2025). "Match Group CEO admits dating apps feel too much like 'a numbers game' so he's asking employees for 'unvarnished feedback' on how to improve Hinge and Tinder". Fortune.
  24. ↑ Cloonan, Kelly (8 May 2025). "Match Group to Cut 13% of Workforce Amid Weak Demand From Younger Users". Wall Street Journal.
  25. ↑ Cloonan, Kelly (22 May 2025). "Match Group CEO Rascoff to Lead Struggling Tinder App". Wall Street Journal.
  26. 1 2 Chandonnet, Henry (21 October 2025). "Inside Tinder's 'cultural reset' as it battles for relevance with Gen Z". Business Insider.
  27. ↑ Iovine, Anna (22 October 2025). "Tinder to require facial recognition scans for new U.S. users". Mashable.
  28. ↑ Lake, Sydney (4 June 2025). "Match Group CEO says Gen Z is different and he's making drastic changes to Tinder to keep up". Fortune.
  29. ↑ Schlosser, Kurt (4 February 2025). "Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff is new CEO of Match Group family of dating apps". GeekWire.
  30. ↑ Brooks, Samantha (17 June 2020). "Why Zillow Co-founder Spencer Rascoff Retired at 43 and What He's Doing Next". CSQ.
  31. ↑ "LA500 2025: Spencer Rascoff". Los Angeles Business Journal. 2 June 2025.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.