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Carl Gambino jumps to Compass from Westside Estate Agency
Splashy move comes amid questions of Compass’s business model
Carl Gambino, whose recent real estate deals include bringing two of the Jonas brothers to Encino, has left Westside Estate Agency for Compass.
A Compass spokesman confirmed the move, and Gambino’s website is now affiliated with Compass, which is headquartered in New York and entered Los Angeles in 2015. The spokesman touted Gambino as a real estate agent to celebrities including Alex Rodriguez, Jennifer Lopez, and Harry Styles, and said that Gambino netted $145 million in total 2019 sales volume.
Gambino, who joined Westside Estate in 2015, is the latest top luxury real estate agent to join Compass amid skepticism the brokerage’s venture capital-fueled growth from SoftBank and other investors will turn into profits.
“We love Carl and wish him the best,” said Stephen Shapiro, co-founder and managing broker of Westside Estate. “It’s another Compass move showing they are not developing a sustainable revenue source by buying agents. Carl is a great agent and is welcome back to WEA at any time.”
Compass would not say how much they are paying Gambino, and what percentage he would keep of each closing commission fee. The brokerage has announced a series of major recruits including Chris Cortazzo and Ginger Glass from Coldwell Banker, and Sally Forster Jones from Pacific Union, a brokerage Compass later acquired. Rival brokers including Shapiro have scoffed at these moves. They claim Compass is offering seven-figure compensation packages and commission splits routinely north of 90 percent, terms tilted so far in favor of the agents that the brokerages cannot profit from the agents’ sales.
Compass has also lost a couple of its recruits along the way including Steve Frankel, who returned to Coldwell Banker last month after just a month at Compass.
In October, Gambino represented Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra’s purchase of a home in Encino for $20 million. Gambino also served as buying agent for Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner snapping up a $14 million home, three miles away in the San Fernando Valley city.
Non-Jonas brothers deals of late include representing an unidentified buyer in the $15 million purchase of a Beverly Hills mansion on Hillcrest Road.