FTC Chief Khan Resurrects Antitrust Review of Zillow Deal That Staff Previously Cleared

Zillow Group, an operator of apps for real estate listings, is waking up to the new reality of mergers and acquisitions with Lina Khan in charge of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission: Even after the agency allows a specific deal to close, that doesn’t mean the antitrust review is over.

About two weeks ago, Khan revived a review of Zillow’s $500 million acquisition of real estate listings service ShowingTime several months after the FTC appeared to have cleared the deal. The FTC had opened an in-depth review of the deal in April, shortly after it had been announced, and by June, agency lawyers told the companies they had no concerns about it. Zillow and ShowingTime had planned to complete the deal by the end of this month—but Khan is now asking the two companies for more information, said people with knowledge of the situation.