Opendoor co-founder Eric Wu introduced as we speak that he’s stepping down from his function as CEO of the true property expertise firm and that Carrie Wheeler will probably be taking up as chief government.
In a weblog submit, Wu stated that he’ll transition to serving as president of market. Wheeler has served because the chief monetary officer of Opendoor since September of 2020.
In asserting the shift, Wu wrote: “First, I imagine that an vital driver of shareholder worth is the invention and refinement of product market match, and I need to spend my days, nights, and weekends delivering merchandise that tackle client wants. Second, and extra importantly, I’ve spent numerous hours with Carrie, and I do know she is the chief and government Opendoor wants.”
Wheeler will be a part of Opendoor’s board, of which Wu will proceed to function a member. John Rice, who has served on the corporate’s board since 2021, has been appointed lead impartial director.
In early November, Opendoor launched a brand new market referred to as Opendoor Exclusives in its Dallas-Fort Price and Austin markets. On the time, Wu stated: “We’ve designed Opendoor Exclusives to be a brand new market the place you’ll be able to instantly purchase and promote a house, with none of the effort of the standard actual property mannequin. We’re doing this by leveraging our 9 years as a number one purchaser and vendor of properties, opening our platform and providers, and aiming to carry collectively lots of of 1000’s of our residence sellers and residential consumers. As we speak marks a founding second as we develop our imaginative and prescient to service all homebuyers and householders and goal to redefine the true property transaction without end.”
The strikes come after a tumultuous yr for Opendoor. On November 2, Opendoor introduced it was letting go of about 550 individuals, or 18% of the corporate, throughout all features.
At the moment, Wu stated his firm was navigating “probably the most difficult actual property markets in 40 years.”
In the meantime, the corporate’s inventory has taken an enormous hit. Opendoor went public in late December 2020 after finishing its deliberate merger with the SPAC Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings II, headed by investor Chamath Palihapitiya. The eight-year-old firm closed its first day of buying and selling on the Nasdaq inventory alternate at $31.25, “nicely above the $10 share worth at which Social Capital offered shares in an April [2020] preliminary public providing,” per Crunchbase and Reuters reporting. On the time of writing as we speak, shares had been buying and selling at $1.76, solely barely increased than the corporate’s 52-week low of $1.46. Which means the corporate is valued at simply $1.11 billion, down from a valuation of $8 billion in 2021.
In August, Opendoor agreed to pay $62 million to settle expenses by the Federal Commerce Fee, which stated the corporate’s claims that it helps individuals make more cash by promoting their home to the corporate slightly than itemizing it on the open market had been misleading.
With regards to enterprise capital, Opendoor final raised $300 million at a $3.5 billion pre-money valuation in March of 2019. Over time, it has raised about $1.3 billion in fairness funding and almost $3 billion in debt financing to finance its residence purchases. Buyers within the firm embody Normal Atlantic, the SoftBank Imaginative and prescient Fund, NEA, Norwest Enterprise Companions, GV, GGV Capital, Entry Know-how Ventures, SV Angel and Fifth Wall Ventures, together with others.
Founders embody Wu and Founders Fund normal companion Keith Rabois.
