Opendoor cuts 22% of its employees
The industry’s leading iBuyer continues its struggle against housing industry headwinds, cutting about 560 employees, mostly in operations.
Opendoor on Tuesday confirmed that it had made the "very difficult decision" to lay off 22% of its workforce, the latest dramatic move in the company's journey to reshape itself while facing industry-shaking challenges.
The layoffs will impact about 560 employees, primarily in the operations organization.
"We're taking these actions now to better align our operational costs with the anticipated near-term market opportunity, while maintaining our critical technology investments that will continue to drive the business long term," an Opendoor spokesperson said Tuesday.
"Our biggest priority is supporting our people. Our impacted team members are receiving severance pay, extended health benefits and job transition support," they said.
This is the second major layoff in six months for the company, which cut 550 employees in early November, an 18% reduction. Also in November, CEO Eric Wu stepped down to focus on Opendoor's marketplace business, with Carrie Wheeler taking over as CEO.
In announcing that Opendoor lost more than $1.4 billion in 2022, roughly double the size of its previous-year loss, Wheeler reaffirmed in February the company's commitment to providing "the certainty of cash offers that consumers cannot get anywhere else."
She said their partnership with Zillow, which will allow home sellers on Zillow to request a cash offer from Opendoor, provides a "significant runway for future growth, while stabilizing core business." The program recently expanded to Dallas, Houston and Phoenix.
The company is also bullish on Exclusives, which enables Opendoor to directly connect buyers and sellers. The company launched in nine additional markets in 2022, bringing the total number of markets to more than 50.