Redfin Lays Off 13% of Staff Shuts Home-Flipping Business
Referring to the tech-powered home investment and turnaround industry in which Opendoor is another big name, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman emailed staff Wednesday, “iBuying is a staggering amount of money and risk for a now-uncertain benefit. the home-flipping business accounted for 43% of Redfin’s second-quarter revenue, some Wall Street analysts expressed relief at its cutting the cord on the business.
“We think this cleans up the operations,” Stephens Inc. analysts wrote in a Wednesday morning note.
Redfin is scheduled to release its third-quarter earnings Wednesday afternoon.
Redfin has closed down its home-flipping division, Redfin Now, and laid off 13% of its staff , The Wall Street Journal reports.
The Seattle-based company said Redfin Now was losing money and was too risky, given that it expects the real estate market to contract further in 2023.
The layoffs come on the heels of an 8% reduction in staff in June.
Referring to the tech-powered home investment and turnaround industry in which Opendoor is another big name, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman emailed staff Wednesday , “iBuying is a staggering amount of money and risk for a now-uncertain benefit. We’ve tied up hundreds of millions of dollars in houses that you yourself wouldn’t want to own right now.”
Although the home-flipping business accounted for 43% of Redfin ’s second-quarter revenue, some Wall Street analysts expressed relief at its cutting the cord on the business.
“We think this cleans up the operations,” Stephens Inc. analysts wrote in a Wednesday morning note.
Redfin is scheduled to release its third-quarter earnings Wednesday afternoon. Kelman said in his email to staff he expects the company will lose at least $22 million on Redfin Now for full-year 2022.
