Executive changes at Zillow.com

Jorrit Van der Meulen

Jorrit Van der Meulen, who served as vice president of partner relations at Zillow.com, has left the company.

Even though Van der Meulen's bio remains on the Zillow Web site, a spokeswoman confirmed that he is gone. His position has been filled by Spencer Rascoff, who had served as chief financial officer and vice president of marketing. Rascoff now holds the new title of chief operating officer.

UPDATE: Van der Meulen is returning to Amazon.com to run IMDB.com and other content sites, according to an e-mail that he sent to colleagues. Text of the October 20th email, which was obtained by TechFlash, is included after the jump.

The news comes about two weeks after the heavily-funded online real estate startup cut 40 employees. It was unclear whether Van der Meulen left as part of the layoff. He could not be reached for comment this morning.

The former Amazon.com manager was responsible for inking deals with real estate companies in an effort to build Zillow's database of for sale listings. The company says it now has more than three million homes for sale on the site.

In his Zillow profile, Van der Meulen said that he spent the majority of his time on the road talking with real estate professionals to help "them understand the many ways they can market themselves and their listings for FREE on Zillow.com while..."

UPDATE: Van der Meulen is returning to Amazon.com where he plans to run content sites such as IMDB.com, Askville, DPReview.com, according to an e-mail he sent to colleagues on October 20 announcing his departure. That was three days after the Zillow layoff was announced.

Van der Meulen confirmed his departure in an e-mail to TechFlash this morning, writing that it was "incredibly difficult" to leave and that  Zillow has "made amazing gains in the past few years." 

Here's the e-mail Van der Meulen sent to contacts:

(Editor's note: Van der Meulen's personal e-mail addresses and phone numbers have been removed from the text in the e-mail below.)

Sent: Monday, October 20, 2008 7:49:06 AM
Subject: Update

This is a quick note to let you know that I will be leaving Zillow and returning to Amazon effective 11/3/08...  
 
Obviously, this was an incredibly difficult decision, but these are also incredibly strange times.  I am a huge fan and believer of Zillow.  I think we have created a lasting brand in a very very short amount of time.  I will cherish he memories of the experience - from when we had 5 people crammed into our first office to when we had 150 in beautiful offices overlooking Puget Sound. I have many friends at Zillow.  I have my best friend, Lloyd, who I have loved working with and for.  I remain a passionate investor and believe that, over time, Zillow will become what we have always dreamed it would be.

Amazon, thankfully, welcomed me back.  I am excited to start and will be responsible for all of the "Content Sites".  These are sites like IMDB.com, Askville, DPReview.com and more.  All of these sites create and aggregate compelling content that draw visitors and then make money through advertising (sound familiar?).  My experience at Zillow, will be very beneficial as we work to add new sites and build upon the great work that's already been done.

Jorrit