"One of the reasons this is so difficult is simply because the business continues grow," mistypes Rich Barton, CEO of Seattle-based online real-estate startup Zillow. Following the current fad, the company axed 25 percent of roughly 150 employees. Barton's layoff blog post sticks to the formula: I'm sad, this is hard, but business is just fucking great! But I'm sad. The End. I prefer Barton's personal profile on Zillow: "I love houses (I've owned close to 10)." So he feels your pain.

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