Opendoor soars as cofounders Keith Rabois and Eric Wu added to board of directors, Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian appointed as new CEO
Opendoor Technologies spiked more than 55% in early trading after announcing after the close on Wednesday that two of the online real estate company’s cofounders, Keith Rabois and Eric Wu, have been added to its board of directors. Rabois will serve as chairman.
Shares are now trading at their highest level since April 2022.
The company said Wu and Rabois’ venture capital firm is buying $40 million in Opendoor stock via a private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing.
In addition, Opendoor has poached Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian to serve as its new CEO after Carrie Wheeler resigned in mid-August.
“Literally there was only one choice for the job: Kaz. I am thrilled that he will be serving as CEO of Opendoor,” Rabois said.
The company touted in its press release that it’s “going into founder mode” with these additions, with lead independent director Eric Feder championing this injection of “founder DNA.”
That exact phrase, “founder DNA,” was used by Eric Jackson, architect of the initial rally and social interest in Opendoor, as he openly campaigned for these very two individuals to be added to the board.
This underscores how far the company is willing to go in embracing a new strategy of listening to its investors (particularly the most prominent one, it seems!) as management aims to engineer a fundamental turnaround in its business to match the optimism embedded in its stock price.
