Rocket Announces Layoffs After Redfin Deal

With the Redfin acquisition done and dusted, Rocket Companies is laying off a portion of its workforce in the name of streamlining operations.

Rocket axed roughly 2 percent of its workforce following the $1.75 billion deal to acquire the Seattle-based brokerage, HousingWire reported. The layoffs were confirmed weeks after the deal closed.

“Following the Redfin acquisition, we carefully reviewed our combined structure, identified overlapping roles and made the difficult decision to streamline teams,” a Rocket spokesperson told the publication.

It’s unclear exactly how many employees were terminated in the round of cuts. As of the end of last year, Rocket had more than 14,200 employees, down by roughly 500 employees from a year earlier; among the top eight publicly-traded mortgage lenders, Rocket is the only one to see a workforce reduction in the past year.

Those hit by the latest cuts include employees in the recruiting, product management and software engineering departments. Affected employees are receiving 12 weeks of severance pay, plus another week for each year of service to the company.

Detroit-based Rocket announced its acquisition of Redfin in March, closing the deal at the beginning of this month. The deal enables Rocket to tap into Redfin’s consumer pool, which includes its 50 million monthly website visitors.

Rocket is anticipating more than $200 million in run-rate synergies by 2027, including approximately $140 million in cost synergies.

“We will improve the experience by connecting traditionally disparate steps of the search and financing process with leading technology that removes friction, reduces costs and increases value to American homebuyers,” Rocket CEO Varun Krishna said in a statement when the acquisition was announced.

Neither firm has been spared from the pain of layoffs in recent years. In 2022, Rocket cut 7,500 employees, reducing its workforce by 29 percent. Meanwhile, Redfin disclosed to the SEC that it was laying off 450 employees in its rental division while announcing a syndication partnership with Zillow.

More personnel decisions could be coming down the pike as Rocket waits to close its $9.4 billion acquisition of Dallas-based Mr. Cooper Group.

— Holden Walter-Warner