After Meme-Stock Surge, Opendoor Pushes Off Reverse Split

Opendoor isn’t ready to decide on a reverse stock split, but the iBuyer is keeping the door open while its stock price rollercoaster ride continues.

The company postponed its shareholder vote for the stock maneuver, Bloomberg reported. The vote was scheduled for Monday, months after Nasdaq warned the technology company about potentially being booted off the stock exchange for falling below a $1 stock price. The vote is now rescheduled for late August.

The reverse stock split was an avenue to elevate Opendoor’s stock price and maintain its listing on the Nasdaq exchange. But it became less necessary in recent weeks after a stunning meme-investor-fueled turnaround propelled the stock.

After opening July 14 trading at $0.78 — the 55th consecutive day opening under one dollar — Opendoor’s stock nearly tripled over the course of a week. As of last Monday afternoon, the stock was up to $3.26.

The rally appears to have been prompted by Eric Jackson, a hedge fund manager at EMJ Capital, who posted on X that his firm took a position in the embattled iBuying company; Jackson gained renown for taking a position in automobile e-commerce website Carvana, which has seen its stock rise by more than 1,000 percent since bottoming out in 2022.

Jackson wrote that he sees potential for the stock to reach $82, noting the company’s cost-cutting efforts and reduced competition after Zillow and Redfin shuttered iBuying operations.

It seems these comments prompted retail investors to go on a buying spree, similar to 2021 meme-stock mania.

IBuying companies profit by purchasing homes with cash and flipping them for a higher price, as well as profiting on the service fee they charge.

As of publication time, Opendoor’s price sagged back down to $2.49 per share. That’s still a remarkable 370 percent jump in the last month.

Opendoor hit its $35 per share peak in 2021, which it reached during a buoyant housing market before the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates. A year later, the company lost more than $1 billion, along with its co-founder and CEO Eric Wu.

Opendoor has since engaged in aggressive cost-cutting, laying off 300 workers in 2024 after posting a third-quarter loss of $78 million. Second-quarter earnings are expected to be reported next week.

Nasdaq has yet to inform Opendoor if it’s back in compliance, but it only needs to be trading above $1 for 10 consecutive business days by late November.

— Holden Walter-Warner