Opendoor Names Shopify Executive As CEO

Opendoor Technologies has brought on a former Shopify executive as its next chief executive officer.

The company announced in a press release late Wednesday that Kaz Nejatian, the chief operating officer of e-commerce site Shopify, would be assuming the role of CEO effective immediately.

Keith Rabois and Eric Wu, who co-founded the iBuyer, are returning to the board of directors, with Rabois taking over as chairman of the board. The stock jumped 30 percent to $5.86 in pre-market open trading following the news. It was trading up another 40 percent at $8.27 as of Thursday morning.

Nejatian, who had been with Shopify since 2019, replaces former Opendoor CEO Carrie Wheeler, who stepped down as CEO on Aug. 15 amid calls for her resignation following a surge of retail investment in the company that saw its stock price increase as much as 500 percent since it was trading below $1 entering July.

In the days following Wheeler’s exit, the stock rose another 60 percent to over $5. This week, the stock reached a three-year high of $6.65 on Sept. 5.

The investment and subsequent critique of Wheeler was spurred on by activist investor Eric Jackson, a hedge fund manager at EMJ Capital, as well as Rabois.

“The company needs a new CEO. If I can be involved in identifying, assessing and or closing the proper candidate, I’ll be happy to be involved,” Rabois told the TBPN podcast days before Wheeler stepped down.

Jackson, who has claimed the company should be trading for as much as $82 per share, has also posted in recent weeks that Rabois should return to the board and help identify a new CEO.

“If Keith was on the OPEN board today and a new CEO he helped pick just was discussing this plan, $OPEN would be above $60/share,” he posted on X on Aug. 24.

“Literally, there was only one choice for the job: Kaz. I am thrilled that he will be serving as CEO of Opendoor,” Rabois said in a statement. “He is the right leader to unlock Opendoor’s unique data and assets as we build on Opendoor’s original mission, now enhanced as an AI-first company.”

“The future of home buying and selling is now in the chat,” he added, in a nod to the company’s internet-driven turnaround.

Joining Rabois on the board will be Wu, who served as the company’s CEO from 2013 to 2022. The pair are replacing board members Pueo Keffer and Glenn Solomon.

In addition to the personnel changes, Wu and Khosla Ventures, Rabois’ venture capital firm, announced a $40 million private equity investment in the company.