- Its iBuying model faced significant losses due to market shifts.
US-based real estate technology company Opendoor is winding down its India operations, letting go of nearly 250 employees. The company says it is moving roles back to America as part of a broader shift toward artificial intelligence.
Critics, however, see it differently, as a cost-cutting exercise dressed up in tech language.
Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian shared a note with employees saying the process had already begun over the past few months, with some roles quietly relocated to the US. The latest move completes that shift and effectively shuts down the company’s India presence entirely.
Who Gets Affected
A small number of Indian employees will stay on temporarily to help hand over ongoing work. The rest will receive severance packages and outplacement support.
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The Official Reason
Nejatian said Opendoor’s customers are in America, and the work that supports them is best done closer to home. He said the India team was originally built to handle manual tasks spread across multiple internal systems. Now, he argued, improvements in technology and AI-enabled teams in the US have made that arrangement unnecessary.
He was careful to add that the decision had nothing to do with how the India team performed. “They are talented professionals who would be valuable additions to other organisations,” he said.
The Business Context
Opendoor, founded in 2014, built its business on a model called iBuying. A homeowner visits the platform, requests an offer, and Opendoor makes a cash bid, typically on the lower side. If the seller agrees, Opendoor buys the property, makes cosmetic repairs and upgrades, and then sells it at a profit.
The model worked well when home prices were rising fast, and borrowing was cheap. That changed. US mortgage rates have climbed sharply in recent years. Demand has slowed. Supply dynamics have shifted. The result has been significant financial losses for the company.
What Comes Next
Nejatian said the India team was originally built to manage manual workflows spread across different internal systems. He said Opendoor’s overall strategy has not changed, and the company remains in a strong position. The focus going forward, he said, is on simplifying operations, building a unified platform and reducing dependence on manual processes.
What he did not say is that fewer employees also means a smaller payroll.
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