Wu based Opendoor in 2014 and served as the corporate’s chief government officer till final 12 months. He mentioned in an announcement that he’s leaving to give attention to constructing new issues.
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Roughly a decade after he based Opendoor, Eric Wu is now leaving the iBuying big to give attention to constructing different startups.
Eric Wu
The corporate first introduced Wu’s departure Friday in a submitting with the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee. Although Wu will proceed to carry an advisory function at Opendoor, he’ll relinquish his present place on the corporate board and can now not have administration tasks. The adjustments go into impact starting Jan. 1.
Wu had been serving as CEO of the corporate up till a few 12 months in the past, when he moved into a brand new place as president of Market. The brand new function gave him oversight of Exclusives, the corporate’s asset-light market that’s designed to attach patrons and sellers with out requiring Opendoor itself to truly purchase any homes.
With Wu’s departure, Opendoor Vice President and Normal Supervisor Merav Bloch will take over administration of Exclusives, a venture the corporate described as an ongoing precedence.
Opendoor CEO Carrie Wheeler, who assumed the chief government chair when Wu stepped down final 12 months, will stay in her place.
In an announcement, Wu defined his departure as an effort to get again to what he loves doing.
“After ten years, I’m known as to get again to my startup roots and create and construct once more,” he mentioned within the assertion.
Wu additionally touted Opendoor’s success over time, saying that “over 250,000 people and households have trusted us to simplify their largest transaction, now we have modified a complete class, and now we have constructed the muse for the following decade of innovation and progress.”
“I’m humbled by this accomplishment and grateful for all my teammates who helped form the product, tradition, and firm,” he added within the assertion.
Wu’s accomplishments have been important certainly. Although residence flipping has existed as a enterprise mannequin for years, Wu modified the class by bringing massive expertise, massive funding and large scale to the idea. Not was cash-based flipping one thing for the small time Dwelling Depot set. As a substitute, Wu and his firm constructed a user-friendly expertise product that feels each fashionable and streamlined in comparison with conventional methods of doing actual property. Wu additionally managed to win the backing of huge names similar to Softbank, and finally impressed incumbent corporations similar to Zillow, Redfin and lots of others to repeat his enterprise mannequin.
The consequence was that within the late 2010s and early 2020s, iBuying was one of many buzziest and most feared ideas in actual property. The mannequin routinely prompted discussions about the way forward for actual property brokers, and a few observers predicted main percentages of the housing market might finally transact via tech-enabled money gives.
Situations, nonetheless, started to vary because the COVID-19 pandemic waned and federal regulators labored rapidly to rein in inflation — efforts that despatched mortgage charges hovering at document charges. The impact was a considerably cooled actual property market with scant stock and meager value appreciation, each of which represented challenges for corporations that wished to flip properties rapidly and for a revenue.
Between 2021 and 2022, Zillow and Redfin additionally each gave up on iBuying, leaving Opendoor the undisputed king of the money provide hill.
Wu stepped down from his function as CEO proper in the midst of the market shift, final 12 months, at a time when it was clear that the heady instances of the pandemic had ended however earlier than charges reached their 2023 excessive factors.
The comparatively brutal actual property market of 2023 has taken a toll on Opendoor’s earnings — because it has with most actual property corporations — with income falling 71 % 12 months over 12 months within the third quarter. Regardless of the dip, although, the corporate managed to trim year-over-year losses between July and September.
Carrie Wheeler
Although a slower market has arguably made iBuying a less-buzzy idea, Opendoor has persistently argued that it’s poised to thrive over the lengthy haul. Through the firm’s most up-to-date earnings name, for example, Wheeler touted market share features and improved price constructions, noting that “we imagine now we have laid the muse to emerge from this cycle extra resilient and well-positioned for continued share features and long-term profitability.”
In an announcement Friday, Wheeler additionally praised Wu for taking the “radical thought of simplifying life’s largest and most advanced transaction” and remodeling “it into a totally digital, streamlined expertise on a world-class expertise platform.”
“I need to thank Eric for his braveness, innovation, and grit over time,” Wheeler added. “Opendoor wouldn’t be right here with out him and his unwavering dedication to our clients.”
E mail Jim Dalrymple II
