Activist investors claim victory as Opendoor CEO steps down
The industry-leading iBuyer had seen its stock price jump, but calls for Carrie Wheeler to step down grew louder. A search for a replacement has already begun.
Carrie Wheeler, CEO of Opendoor, has stepped down effective immediately — a move the company announced on Aug. 15 but described as a transition that began earlier this year.
Chief Technology & Product Officer Shrisha Radhakrishna will take the reins as president and interim leader while a search is underway for a permanent CEO.
Opendoor said Wheeler approached the board in mid-2025 to begin the process of finding someone to replace her and retained Spencer Stuart to lead the CEO search, which is already in progress. Wheeler said on LinkedIn that "I believe the best thing I can do for Opendoor now is to accelerate my succession plans … and make room for new leadership."
How we got here: Eric Jackson, founder of EMJ Capital, sparked meme-like investor excitement via social media and a stock price surge in July. Opendoor's stock price had hovered below $1 since mid-April and Nasdaq informed the company that it was at risk of delisting.
Jackson had called for a leadership change and told Investing.com that Wheeler's departure was "wonderful news to shareholders." Opendoor's share price jumped after the announcement.
Reshaping Opendoor leadership: CFO Selim Freiha and Radhakrishna will report directly to the board. To support governance during the transition, the board also named Eric Feder — president of Lennar Homes' strategic investing arm LenX — as lead independent director.
Radhakrishna, who joined Opendoor in 2024 from LegalZoom after more than a decade at Intuit, has overseen cost reductions and the launch of new offerings like the Cash Plus program. "We are not only enhancing our current products but building the platform that defines the future of residential real estate transactions," he said in a press release.
The company spelled out Radhakrishna's compensation in an SEC filing dated Aug. 28: His annual base salary was raised to $700,000, while his target bonus opportunity remains set at 50% of his base salary. For 2025, however, he is guaranteed a minimum annual bonus of $500,000 plus a one-time cash retention bonus of $250,000 tied to his appointment.
Wheeler's impact and what's next: Wheeler took over the top job after co-founder Eric Wu stepped down in late 2022. She joined Opendoor's board in 2019 and also served as CFO.
"When the Board of Directors asked me to take on this role at the end of 2022, the company was in crisis," Wheeler's farewell LinkedIn post continued. "My mandate was clear: stabilize the company and do what was necessary to survive. Of course, I said yes — because I believed in Opendoor. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't about glamorous headlines, but we stopped the bleeding."
She offered her thanks to everyone "who helped steady the ship" and pointed out that Opendoor went from $1 billion in losses when she took over to its first quarter of positive EBITDA in three years while becoming "a multi-product platform for consumers and agents alike."
Feder praised Wheeler's leadership through "one of the most challenging real estate markets in history," noting her role in taking the company public as CFO and in "leaving the company in a stronger position than when she took it over."
Wheeler will remain with the company as an advisor through the end of the year.