Compass agent Kyle Blackmon just made a pretty penny off his company’s stock.
But it wasn’t for selling high or buying low. The veteran New York City luxury broker was awarded $5.5 million by a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel in a complaint he brought against UBS Financial Services over how it handled his Compass stock options and shares.
In January 2025, Blackmon brought a complaint to FINRA, which regulates the financial brokerage industry, accusing UBS of mishandling his unexercised stock options around Compass’ initial public offering.
Compass went public in 2021 with a share price around $20, but watched its stock fall to as low as $2 as interest rates spiked and the housing market cratered in the coming years. Its price has since rebounded as the brokerage’s growth has continued to outpace the housing market and Compass has delivered cash-flow positive quarters in recent years.
The recommendations at issue involved “very complex” trading strategies, a person familiar with Blackmon’s claim told AdvisorHub. Blackmon claimed that UBS breached its fiduciary duty and violated an SEC rule governing how broker-dealers advise their clients, according to the arbitration award published by FINRA.
The hearings lasted over nine days starting on Jan. 26 and took place before a two-person panel in Boca Raton, Florida. Blackmon is registered in both New York and Florida.
Blackmon did not respond to a request for comment. An attorney for UBS did not respond to a request for comment.
Blackmon made waves in the industry when he joined the fledgling Compass — then Urban Compass — in 2014. He had previously spent more than a decade at Brown Harris Stevens, where he made a name for himself when he sold former Citigroup chairman Sanford Weill’s penthouse apartment at 15 Central Park West for $88 million, a record price in the city at the time.
At Compass, Blackmon, who has been described as a prototypical Southern gentleman, has continued to be a steady producer. He ranked 26th in The Real Deal’s top agent rankings by deal volume in 2019.
His clients have included the former CEO of NBCUniversal, whose co-op Blackmon sold this week for $15 million, to Rupert Murdoch, whose Flatiron penthouse Blackmon sold for $24 million in 2024.
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