Zillow Group Earnings: 3 Questions for CEO Rich Barton

Zillow Group (NASDAQ: Z) (NASDAQ: ZG) reports its third-quarter results after the market closes on Thursday, and questions are swirling about the massive transformations the company is undergoing. Given the stock price volatility over the last several months, market participants don't appear to have a strong handle on Zillow's future or the value of the business.

Co-founder and CEO Rich Barton could provide answers to three key questions that should shed more light on Zillow's future.

Zillow's core Premier Agent business makes money by selling advertising exposure and homebuyer leads to real estate agents. Agents pay upfront for these leads, and Zillow distributes leads based on how much an agent pays relative to other agents in each ZIP code. For example, if an agent spends $5,000 per month with Zillow while all Premier Agents in that ZIP code are collectively spending $100,000, the agent receives 5% of the homebuyer leads. At that point, the agent does his or her best to sell homes to those people, which generates commissions for the agent.

Source Fool.com