US-based real estate platform Opendoor is shutting down its operations altogether India Operations and laid off the local team to move operations back to the United States. The company’s CEO, Kaz Nejatian, shared an internal note on social media saying that since their core customer base is in the United States, the operations role truly belongs here. He clarified that the decision did not reflect the quality of the team’s work and actively recommended the affected employees to other recruiters, calling them “great people.”
“Earlier today, I shared this post with the entire Opendoor team. Today, as we wind down our India operations, we begin to say goodbye to our colleagues in India. Our customers in USAthat’s where our operations work,” CEO Kaz Nejatian tweeted.
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He shared a screenshot of the notice he sent to the entire team informing them of the layoffs.
I wanted to update you on the changes we’re making to Opendoor. When we launched Opendoor 2.0 a few months ago, Opendoor had close to 250 employees in India. Over the past few months, some of those jobs have moved back to the United States.
Today, we are finalizing how to bring these roles closer to our customers in the U.S. and beginning the process of winding down our operations in India. This affects all of our Indian colleagues who do meaningful work for Opendoor.
I appreciate their dedication and this decision does not reflect the quality of their work. Our colleagues in India are great people and we recommend them to anyone hiring.
Why do we need to make this change?
Our customers are in the United States, and the operational work we do for them is best done near them. Over the years, Opendoor has built a large team in India to handle manual workflows in decentralized systems. Since we have unified these systems and hired small teams across the United States for Al-native customers, we need to do all of these operations in person and be close to our customers.
After today, Opendoor 2.0 will be a much smaller company in terms of employees, but a much larger company in terms of impact. Our people, with the help of the tools we build, will own more, build more, and reach more than ever before. Operationally, we will see the following major changes:
1. We’ll simplify: fewer tools, fewer steps, fewer solutions.
2. We will build a platform so anyone on Opendoor can see how a home moves through buying, renovating, and selling.
3. We will stop stacking manual workflows on top of point solution tools. Every new process earns its place.
What this means for our colleagues in India
This is a significant and difficult change for those affected, and we are providing transition options including severance, outplacement services and other resources. A small number of team members will remain to complete the transition of key workflows.
What does this mean for the rest of the company?
Our priorities and direction have not changed, Opendoor is in a strong position and is getting even stronger.
Our colleagues in India have helped make Opendoor what it is today, and we’re grateful. Our job now is to continue to tilt the world in favor of homeowners. Let’s fix America’s housing problem.
question? Our next AMA open day is June 16th, and as always, my DMs are open.
Social media reaction:
One person asked: “Does this mean you will also scale back operations in Poland, or will the team be critical to EU expansion?” Nejatian replied: “Very important.”
Another commented: “Suddenly you turn into a nice pro-American workforce, huh? Or just fire the people using the AI and decide to try and reframe the betrayal of the American workforce over the years?”
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A third posted, “Hahaha you act like you’re doing a good thing. You put operations first. You should lose your business and have to start from scratch.” A fourth wrote: “AI replaced Indians. Is that the conclusion?”
“Letter of Recommendation”
Responding to his own tweet, the CEO urged local companies in India to hire laid-off workers. He posted, “If you are recruiting and doing business in India, these are great people. Please consider my references and hire them.”
