Opendoor (OPEN) Stock: New CEO Sparks 79% September Surge

TLDR

Table of Contents

Opendoor stock jumped 79% in September after naming former Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian as new CEO
Co-founders Keith Rabois and Eric Wu returned to the board, with Rabois becoming chair
The stock has risen from under $1 to around $8 in 2025, giving the company a $6 billion market value
Federal Reserve interest rate cuts could lower mortgage rates and boost housing market activity
Critics question if the home-flipping business model can ever scale profitably given high costs and thin margins

Opendoor Technologies saw its stock price soar 79% in September. The online home flipper brought in new leadership and benefited from falling interest rates.

The company named Kaz Nejatian as its new CEO on September 11. Nejatian was serving as COO of Shopify at the time of his appointment.

The stock jumped 79.5% in a single trading session following the announcement. Investors had been pushing for new leadership changes at the struggling company.

for all the $OPEN haters…
this chart looks absurd
I'm long and will add on strength pic.twitter.com/B6budz46zL
— Greg Duncan (@GregDuncan_) October 2, 2025

Former CEO Carrie Wheeler was pushed out by the board in August. The search for a permanent replacement created uncertainty until Nejatian’s appointment.

Co-founders Eric Wu and Keith Rabois rejoined the board at the same time. Rabois took on the role of board chair.

Rabois called Nejatian the only choice for the job. The new CEO has experience running a consumer-facing digital platform and implementing AI solutions.

The leadership changes came as Opendoor gained attention as a meme stock. Individual investors calling themselves the “Open Army” rallied around the company and demanded strategic changes.

Stock Performance and Market Value

Opendoor shares traded below $1 for much of the year. The stock now sits around $8, about 15 times higher than mid-2025 levels.

The company currently has a $6 billion market value. This comes despite reporting annual losses every year since its founding in 2014.

At one point in September, the stock was up more than 2,000% from earlier in the year. The dramatic gains lifted a stock that many had considered dead.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates in September for the first time in the year. The Fed forecast two more cuts coming.

Lower interest rates should reduce mortgage rates. This could bring more activity back to the housing market.

Business Model Challenges

The company operates in about 50 markets across the country. Local conditions vary widely in each market.

Opendoor reported a $227 million gross profit on $2.7 billion of revenue in the first half of 2025. The company had a $114 million pretax loss during the same period.

The company highlighted a “contribution profit” of $123 million. This nonstandard metric excludes most operating expenses and interest costs on $2.2 billion of debt.

Buying and selling homes for resale requires both labor and capital. Each market has different permits, inspections, and worker availability.

Zillow tried a similar iBuyer model and failed. Zillow Offers exited the business in 2021 after its pricing algorithm led to large losses.

The Open Army has pushed for a shift away from home-flipping. They want Opendoor to focus on collecting fees for connecting sellers with agents.

Opendoor launched such a service in 2022. Many other companies already operate in this space.

Opendoor gave disappointing guidance for the third quarter. Investors should not expect a quick turnaround.

Nejatian has talked about new products coming. Investors are waiting to see what they are and if they will make a difference.

The stock volatility has cooled in recent days. There has been no major news or movement in either direction lately.

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