Eric Wu, co-founder and CEO of real estate sales platform Opendoor Technologies, announced in a blog post that about 550 employees, or 18 per cent of the company, would be laid off across all functions.
“It is with a heavy heart that I share this news today. For those who missed the Open House, we’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our team by ~550 people across all functions – approximately 18 per cent of the company. The reality is, we’re navigating one of the most challenging real estate markets in 40 years and need to adjust our business. To manage through the turbulence in the market, we’ve worked quickly over the last two quarters to reduce our operating expenses. Prior to today, we scaled back our capacity by over 830 positions – primarily by reducing third-party resourcing – and we eliminated millions of fixed expenses, “said Wu.
Mortgage interest rates and inflation are largely to blame for the slowdown in demand that has caused a slowdown in the Property-selling industry.
Affected employees will receive 10 weeks of severance pay, with an additional two weeks of salary for each full year of service over two years. All current healthcare benefits will continue to be available for the rest of the month, after which Opendoor will pay health insurance for three months. In addition, the company intends to provide transition help and introduce an opt-in talent directory to help laid-off team members explore new opportunities.
“We want to provide clarity on next steps as quickly as possible. We’ll be sending an email to everyone at Opendoor within the next hour, which will let you know whether your role has been impacted or not,” Wu added.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.