Latest news with #OpendoorTechnologiesInc.
Mint
4 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Opendoor Hunts for CEO as Wheeler Steps Down, Lifting Shares
(Bloomberg) -- Opendoor Technologies Inc., a real estate company that became a meme stock in recent months, said Chief Executive Officer Carrie Wheeler is stepping down immediately, an announcement that sent the stock surging. Shrisha Radhakrishna has been named president and interim leader of Opendoor, the company said in a statement Friday. Opendoor shares soared Friday, rising as much as 16% before paring the gain slightly. The stock was up about 9% to $3.32 at 11:36 a.m. in New York. Wheeler approached the board in the middle of this year to begin a succession planning process. The company has retained Spencer Stuart to help with the hunt and said its search is 'well underway.' Opendoor has been well known for its software-driven approach to flipping homes known as iBuying, which caught on with consumers in the hot housing market that followed early Covid lockdowns. The strategy became tougher in the middle of 2022 when interest rates started rising. A plunge in the stock price had put the company at a risk of delisting. But last month, Canadian hedge fund manager Eric Jackson at EMJ Capital made a series of posts online laying out a bull case for the stock, leading to a surge. Jackson was a vocal critic of Wheeler on X. He said Friday in an interview with Bloomberg News that Opendoor co-founders Keith Rabois and Eric Wu should come back to the company's board. And the new leader has to push the company more into artificial intelligence, Jackson said. 'It's obvious to anybody with a pulse who follows stocks that they've got to make a major move into AI and building out a truly national and international platform for real estate,' Jackson said. Wall Street analysts had turned skeptical on Opendoor in recent days, with KBW downgrading the stock to a sell-equivalent rating from neutral on Tuesday, largely pointing toward uncertainty surrounding management's strategy pivot. Citigroup also cut the stock to sell from neutral last week. Of the 11 Wall Street analysts following Opendoor, one rates it a buy, five advise that investors hold the stock, and five rate it a sell. While traders are boosting the stock in trading Friday, shares of the home-flipper are still trading well below their $34.59 record reached in 2021. Eric Feder, president of Lennar Homes' strategic investing arm who has been named lead independent director of Opendoor, said the company will focus on its trove of data and assets. 'The board has confidence in the Opendoor team and has conviction in the strategy,' Feder said. (Updates shares in third paragraph, adds money manager comments in seventh paragraph.) More stories like this are available on
Mint
05-08-2025
- Business
- Mint
Opendoor CEO Wants to Make The Most of Meme-Stock Moment
(Bloomberg) -- Opendoor Technologies Inc. was nursing years of losses and grappling with a potential delisting when it became a meme stock. Then, in a matter of days, the real estate company rallied 460%. Chief Executive Officer Carrie Wheeler sees a chance to use newfound interest to her advantage as she tries to reposition the company from one known for flipping suburban abodes to one that offers homeowners a variety of ways to sell. 'It probably wasn't on my bingo card for 2025,' Wheeler said in an interview. 'We want to make sure we harvest this moment.' Wheeler's remarks came as Opendoor reported second-quarter results, a period in which it made money by one measure for the first time in three years. The company posted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $23 million, beating the average analyst estimate of $17.5 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Opendoor pioneered a software-driven approach to flipping homes known as iBuying, which caught on with consumers in the hot housing market that followed early Covid lockdowns. At its peak, the company was acquiring 5,000 homes a month and drawing copycat efforts from well known housing players like Zillow Group Inc., Redfin Corp. and others. The business has been complicated and risky at times, causing some iBuyers to shutter their operations. Rising interest rates also hit the industry hard, slowing the pace of US home sales significantly in the second half of 2022. That August, Opendoor lost money on 42% of its transactions and took a more cautious approach to buying homes in the months that followed. The company has since slimmed down considerably. Two years ago, Opendoor booked more than $3 billion of revenue in the first quarter. The figure was $1.6 billion in the most recent quarter. The stock, which peaked at $35.88 in early 2021, bottomed out this June at 51 cents and Nasdaq warned the company that it could be delisted for failing to maintain a share price of at least $1. Then Canadian hedge fund manager Eric Jackson at EMJ Capital made a series of posts online laying out a bull case for the stock, leading to the recent surge. Opendoor has the ability to sell as much as $200 million in shares 'at the market' — a tactic that meme-stock beneficiaries like GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. have used to capitalize on retail interest. Wheeler declined to say whether her firm had tapped its ability to raise money this way. Even before the recent rally, Wheeler was plotting a change in course. Opendoor has expanded efforts to bring real estate agents into its process from the beginning, allowing homeowners to weigh the benefits of a fast, cash sale against a traditional listing process. The company also introduced a product that it calls Cash Plus, in which Opendoor pays a lower price for the home and gives the seller some upside from the proceeds of the resale. 'We see a huge opportunity in front of us,' said Wheeler. 'No one else is trying to change home-selling.' More stories like this are available on
