Keller Williams takes bite out of former agents

After coming for the profit shares of those who joined and left Keller Williams after March 2020, the brokerage is retroactively going after other former agents.

The company’s International Associate Leadership Council voted to alter the profit sharing policy for its revenue program, Inman reported. The change will be implemented by the beginning of July.

Vested agents who joined Keller Williams before April 2020 but have since left and are “actively” competing against the brokerage will see their profit share amount reduced by 95 percent. Agents who defected will have six months to return before their shares are cut.

“Profit share will increase for agents that continue to partner in our growth,” Keller Williams president Marc King told company leadership.

Vested agents are those who remain affiliated with Keller Williams for seven consecutive years. That threshold was part of the wholesale changes made three years ago; previously, the vesting period was only three years.

The “actively compete” clause refers to agents who disassociate with Keller Williams and join another brokerage or persuade another agent to do so.

It’s not clear how many agents will be affected by the change. As of the end of June, the brokerage had 169,000 agents across the United States and Canada.

Keller Williams allows vested agents to collect a portion of their former market center’s profit indefinitely. Market centers take over half of the profit, while the rest is split going up a ladder. Keller Williams says it has dispersed more than $1.5 billion in profits since 1997.

The policy change could be perceived as the latest salvo in a war between Keller Williams and eXp Realty, helmed by former agent Glenn Sanford. Keller Williams co-founder Gary Keller has suggested defectors to the virtual brokerage should give back $1 million in profit from the program.

— Holden Walter-Warner