Zillow Group Inc. shares plunged 24.5 percent on Wednesday after the company reported an unexpected third-quarter loss and said it will be winding down its home-buying business. Zillow reported a third-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) loss of 95 cents on revenue of $1.74 billion. Both numbers missed consensus analyst estimates of a 16-cent profit and $2.01 billion, respectively. Zillow also said it plans to wind down its home-buying unit, Offers. The company will also be cutting 25 percent of its workforce. Just weeks after Zillow announced it would be pausing its iBuying of U.S. houses, Bloomberg reported this week that Zillow has actually sold 7,000 homes from its inventory. Growth Catalyst Gone Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak said Zillow has now lost a major bullish catalyst. “Z’s surprising shutdown of Zillow Offers after 3.5 years of capital, human, and mindshare investment was due to weaker than expected execution on …