Amazon and Realogy partner up amid brokerage giant’s falling stock and shrinking market cap

The new homebuying program is launching in markets including LA, Chicago, Tampa and Orlando

Realogy CEO and president Ryan Schneider and Amazon CEO and president Jeff Bezos (Credit: Getty Images)
Realogy CEO and president Ryan Schneider and Amazon CEO and president Jeff Bezos (Credit: Getty Images)

Real estate conglomerate Realogy, which has seen a steep drop in stock prices and a shrinking market cap, is turning to Amazon for a boost.

Realogy announced Tuesday that it had entered a partnership with Amazon dubbed Turnkey, a new homebuying program through which homebuyers will receive up to $5,000 in complimentary Amazon products and services on move-in, courtesy of the brokerage giant.

“When we designed TurnKey, we recognized that ‘closing’ on a home is really just the beginning of the homebuying journey,” Realogy’s senior vice president and head of strategy Eric Chesin said in a press release. “We are proud to team up with Amazon to extend the value we bring to buying a home beyond the moment you first unlock your new front door.”

See the chart below to follow Realogy’s journey so far this year.

The program is currently available in 15 markets across the U.S., including Los Angeles, Chicago, Orlando and Tampa.

The real estate services company, which counts Century 21, Coldwell Banker and Sotheby’s International among its major brands, will match TurnKey agents with buyers “according to the homebuyer’s profile.”

In addition to a selection of Amazon’s smart home products, TurnKey’s Amazon move-in benefit will also include services such as deep cleaning and furniture assembly, and will vary in value between $1,000 and $5,000 according to the purchase price of the new home.

The partnership comes as Realogy, which has long tied its profitability to agent commission splits, looks for a path forward. Its market cap, once more than $7 billion, fell below $1 billion for the first time in May.


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And as its stock tumbles, some analysts have suggested that the company’s issue is now market share. Realogy on July 11 filed an explosive lawsuit against rival Compass, accusing the venture capital-backed firm of “predatory” recruiting tactics as attempts at price-fixing. The next day, Realogy and its executives were hit with a lawsuit in New Jersey alleging securities fraud.

Realogy’s stock hit a new low of $5.74 per share that week, a 75 percent drop from a year earlier. The company’s highest recorded closing price this year was in February, coming in at $18.33, down 65 percent from the company’s highest price ever, $52.92.

Following the news of its partnership with Amazon, the conglomerate’s stock — which closed at $5.18 Monday — reached $6.14 at 9:50 a.m. on Tuesday. Its market cap went up nearly 17 percent to $684 million from roughly $592 million yesterday.

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