Expedia, Zillow Founder Bails from WA State to Vegas

When Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sold all his WA housing property and moved to Florida, it was done in a way that made it clear he wanted no part of the WA State Capital Gains Tax, nor the looming (just passed) millionaire’s tax.

  Now Another WA Tech Giant has Bailed

This businessman is considered a huge influence and mover-shaker in the WA State tech industry, having founded Expedia and ZIllow.  Geekwire is reporting Rich Barton, who co-founded the Zillow Group 20 years ago, and the Expedia Group out of Microsoft 30 years ago, has taken up roots in Vegas.

Both are now multi-billion-dollar companies

Barton, who took Expedia public out from Microsoft, is valued at nearly or just at a billion dollars net worth. But Geekwire says his influence and support of the startup market in Seattle will be a huge loss to the tech industry.

 A Brief Statement on X (Twitter) Did not Go Into Specifics

Barton’s X post mentioned being an empty nester, the kids are launched and it was time to “move on to the next chapter.”

According to Geekwire, a query to a spokesman did not result in a response, but you can read the tea leaves to realize his departure ‘could’ be related to the new barrage of wealth taxes aimed at entreprenuers and other wealthy tech and business giants.

 Barton the Latest in a Series of Major Corporate Giant Defections

When Bezos left, he nearly torpedoed the projections of the Capital Gains Tax, saving himself hundreds of millions of dollars. He also joins former Starbucks founder and CEO Howard Shultz, who openly blasted the state’s new tax-hungry structure.

While Bezos and Barton did not specifically address those topics, Geekwire noted:

“However, the relocations come amid an increasingly heated debate over taxes in Washington state, where lawmakers have expanded taxes on wealthy residents while some business leaders warn that the policies could drive entrepreneurs elsewhere.”

You don’t have to be an economic genius to figure out what’s going on…whether its longtime WA companies setting up shop elsewhere, or the leaders bailing, the economic ship of WA is sinking.