Opendoor Profile: Pandemic Layoffs, Business Model, and Current Status

Category: real estate technology
Pandemic-layoff role: Deepest-cut ranking company
Last updated: 2026-09-26

Founders, executives and investors

TechCrunch lists Eric Wu and Founders Fund general partner Keith Rabois among Opendoor's founders. Wu was co-founder and chief executive through the 2020 and 2022 layoffs. He stepped down as CEO in November 2022 to focus on Opendoor's marketplace business, and Carrie Wheeler took over.

By November 2022 Opendoor had raised about $1.3 billion in equity and nearly $3 billion in debt to finance its home purchases, TechCrunch reported. Its last venture round, in March 2019, was $300 million at a $3.5 billion pre-money valuation. Investors included General Atlantic, the SoftBank Vision Fund, NEA, Norwest Venture Partners, GV, GGV Capital, Access Technology Ventures, SV Angel and Fifth Wall Ventures.

Business before the pandemic

Opendoor practiced "instant buying": it made cash offers on homes, aimed to hold each one for less than three months, and resold it. It said it acquired 11,000 homes in 2018. In the summer of 2019, Bloomberg reported, it fired 50 people and asked up to 300 others to move to Phoenix or leave.

What the pandemic changed

Wu's April 2020 statement said the pandemic had "had an unforeseen impact on public health, the U.S. economy, and housing," and that Opendoor had "seen declines in the number of people buying, selling, and moving during this time of uncertainty." TechCrunch cited Realtor.com figures: U.S. homes for sale fell 15.7 percent year over year in March 2020, and new listings fell 34.0 percent in the week ending March 28.

Laid-off employees received eight weeks of full pay and 16 weeks of reimbursement for health insurance. Wu said he would donate his 2020 salary to a relief fund for Opendoor employees, and other executives also contributed.

After the first shock

Opendoor went public in December 2020 by merging with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings II, a SPAC headed by Chamath Palihapitiya. Its shares closed their first day on Nasdaq at $31.25. By November 2, 2022 they traded at $2.48, and TechCrunch put the company's value at $1.56 billion, against $8 billion in 2021.

That day Wu announced the second cut, about 550 people or 18 percent, in what he called "one of the most challenging real estate markets in 40 years." He wrote that Opendoor had already scaled back "by over 830 positions — primarily by reducing third party resourcing." Five months later, on April 18, 2023, the company confirmed a third cut of 22 percent, about 560 people, mostly in operations. Real Estate News reported that Opendoor had lost more than $1.4 billion in 2022, roughly double its loss the year before.

Since 2025

Bloomberg reported in August 2025 that Opendoor's stock had risen 460 percent after years of losses and a possible delisting. It said the company had posted its first profitable quarter in three years, with adjusted earnings of $23 million, and expected up to $875 million in third-quarter revenue while still projecting a loss. Wheeler was then chief executive.

Wheeler stepped down as chief executive and left the board on August 15, 2025. The board made Shrisha Radhakrishna, the chief technology and product officer, president and interim principal executive officer. On September 10 it appointed Kaz Nejatian chief executive and a director, to start no later than October 7. Nejatian signed Opendoor's quarterly report for the second quarter of 2026, filed on August 4, 2026, as chief executive.

Founders, executives and investors

Business before the pandemic

What the pandemic changed

After the first shock

Since 2025

Sources