The real estate start-up has handed dozens of employees their walking papers and asked hundreds more to relocate cross-country or leave the company
Online real estate marketplace Opendoor has laid off 50 employees and asked hundreds more to move cross-country as it faces an increasingly competitive marketplace, according to a Bloomberg report.
Opendoor, founded in 2014, allows homeowners to upload information about their house and receive a cash offer from the company within 48 hours. If the homeowner accepts the offer, Opendoor will buy the home and put it on the market. Opendoor’s model disrupted the real estate sector, and the company has raised more than $1 billion in equity backing, according to a Bloomberg report.
But Opendoor has faced increasing competition in recent years as start-ups like Offerpad and Perch, and established companies like Zillow and Redfin, have adopted the business model, Bloomberg reported. Zillow, which started buying homes under its Zillow Offers program last year, plains to purchase 5,000 homes per month within five years.
Opendoor began firing almost 50 employees last month, according to Bloomberg. The company has also asked between 200 and 300 employees in offices across the country to relocate to its Phoenix location. The employees will have six to nine months to decide whether to relocate or leave the company, Bloomberg reported.
An Opendoor spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company was “streamlining operations in our Phoenix office” as it continues to grow. Opendoor plans to double the Phoenix office’s headcount to more than 500 next year. The spokesperson also told Bloomberg that Opendoor will continue to hire in all the markets in which it operates.
