Opendoor facing massive layoffs: Chairman Keith Rabois says 85% of employees should go, “We don’t need more than 200”

Opendoor is bracing for a brutal reset. Newly appointed chairman and co-founder Keith Rabois says the real estate platform is weighed down by remote work and a bloated workforce — and he’s ready to slash headcount, CNBC reported on Friday

“There’s 1,400 employees at Opendoor. I don’t know what most of them do. We don’t need more than 200 of them,” Rabois told CNBC’s Squawk on the Street on Friday.

The shake-up comes days after Opendoor named former Shopify executive Kaz Nejatian as its new CEO. He replaces Carrie Wheeler, who stepped down last month under pressure from investors. Eric Wu, Opendoor’s first CEO, is also back on the board. With Rabois now holding the gavel as chairman, the leadership shuffle signals a new era of hard decisions.

Investors, at least initially, cheered the change. Opendoor shares spiked 78% on Thursday before sliding 13% the next day, CNBC reported. Even after the dip, the stock is still up nearly 500% this year, fueled largely by retail traders who piled in after hedge fund manager Eric Jackson started touting the company.

But under the surface, the picture hasn’t changed much. Opendoor continues to burn cash, operates on razor-thin margins, and has little near-term growth on the horizon. Rabois didn’t sugarcoat it: sweeping cuts are coming, and culture will be reset.

“The culture was broken,” he said. “These people were working remotely. That doesn’t work. This company was founded on the principle of innovation and working together in person. We’re going to return to our roots.”

He also made it clear that Opendoor is pulling back from certain initiatives. “The company went down this DEI path,” Rabois said. “We’re gonna fix all that.”

Nejatian, meanwhile, has already set the tone for his arrival. In a post on X, he wrote, “Yes. I’ll be in the office first thing Monday morning and first thing every Monday morning.”

The new leadership isn’t inheriting an easy assignment. Opendoor’s business model — buying and reselling homes for profit — is highly exposed to market swings and still searching for a sustainable footing. Whether Rabois’ aggressive plan to slash staff and scrap remote work can change the trajectory is far from certain.

For now, the message from the top is blunt: the Opendoor of the past few years is gone, and the company is preparing for a much leaner future.

Founded in 2014, Opendoor automates the home-buying and selling process. The company owns and manages its own inventory of homes, using predictive analytics and algorithms to determine when and where to buy and sell. By cutting out friction points like traditional showings and paperwork, it pitches itself as a simpler way to move from one home to the next.

Over the past decade, Opendoor has expanded across markets including Phoenix, Dallas–Fort Worth, Las Vegas, and Atlanta, completing thousands of transactions along the way. The platform has generated millions in commissions for Realtors and has become a recognizable player in the iBuying sector.