Despite a remarkable 470% year-to-date surge in its stock price, positioning it as a favored “meme stock” among retail traders, the digital real estate platform Opendoor is facing an internal reckoning. New chairman Keith Rabois has sharply criticized the company’s operational structure and corporate culture, signaling a significant strategic overhaul ahead.
Rabois, a co-founder who recently rejoined Opendoor’s board of directors, asserted that the company’s workforce is “bloated” and its culture “broken.” In stark terms, he indicated that Opendoor’s current roster of 1,400 employees is vastly excessive, stating, “We don’t need more than 200 of them.” This suggests a potential reduction of over 85% of its workforce, pointing to a profound re-evaluation of the company’s efficiency and operational necessities.
The veteran venture capitalist, also a managing director at Khosla Ventures, attributed the cultural disarray specifically to widespread remote work practices and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Rabois explicitly stated that remote work “doesn’t work” and that the company “went down a ‘DEI path.'” He vowed to “fix all that,” emphasizing a renewed focus on “merit and excellence” as foundational principles for the company’s future direction.
These bold pronouncements coincide with a period of renewed market interest in Opendoor. The company’s stock experienced a significant boost following the announcement of Rabois and co-founder Eric Wu’s return to the board, alongside the appointment of Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian as the new CEO. This leadership shake-up appears to have invigorated investor sentiment, contributing to the stock’s impressive performance.
Rabois’s comments align with a discernible trend within the broader technology sector. Several prominent tech leaders have increasingly expressed skepticism regarding the efficacy of fully remote work models, leading to a wave of return-to-office mandates. Concurrently, some major technology firms, including Amazon, Google, and Meta, have reportedly scaled back their DEI efforts. These shifts are often viewed as dual strategies aimed at recalibrating corporate culture while also providing a pathway to manage or reduce headcounts without explicit large-scale layoffs. The future trajectory of Opendoor under its reconstituted leadership will likely serve as a case study for these evolving corporate strategies.
Emily Carter has over eight years of experience covering global business trends. She specializes in technology startups, market innovations, and corporate strategy, turning complex developments into clear, actionable stories for our readers.