Keith Rabois, one of Opendoor Technologies’ original cofounders and its newly appointed chairman, has delivered a stark assessment of the company’s internal structure and culture, asserting in blunt terms that the organization has become excessively large and inefficient. In remarks made shortly after his formal return to the company’s board of directors—an announcement that was made public on Thursday—Rabois described Opendoor as suffering from significant operational bloat, to the point where he argued that only a small fraction of the current workforce is truly necessary for the business to function effectively.
Speaking candidly in an interview with CNBC’s program *Squawk on the Street* on Friday, Rabois offered concrete numbers to underscore his critique. He observed that Opendoor currently employs approximately 1,400 individuals, yet in his view the company could operate at full capacity with not much more than 200 employees. He confessed that he struggled to identify the actual contributions of the majority of staff members, emphasizing that the organization has in his words become “completely bloated.”
Opendoor, which operates at the intersection of residential real estate and technology by purchasing and reselling homes directly to customers, has recently experienced a surge of attention in the financial markets. The company has emerged as the latest so-called “meme stock,” enjoying intense interest and speculative trading activity from retail investors online. That enthusiasm intensified following Thursday’s announcement that both Rabois and fellow cofounder Eric Wu would be returning to the board of directors, while Kaz Nejatian, who was previously serving as Shopify’s Chief Operating Officer, would be stepping into the role of Chief Executive Officer. Investors appeared to react strongly to the leadership shakeup: by the time markets closed on Friday, Opendoor’s stock price had increased an extraordinary 470 percent since the start of the year.
In addition to his leadership role at Opendoor, Rabois serves as a managing director at the prominent venture capital firm Khosla Ventures. In his CNBC interview, he went beyond concerns of headcount to deliver sharp criticism of Opendoor’s corporate culture. He remarked that the company had drifted in what he considered an unwise direction, with policies that embraced remote work as well as initiatives in diversity, equity, and inclusion—frequently abbreviated as DEI. According to Rabois, the practice of allowing employees to work primarily outside the office had undermined organizational cohesion and effectiveness. He dismissed the model outright, declaring: “These people were working remotely. That doesn’t work.” He also argued that the company had ventured “down a DEI path,” which in his perspective detracted from its focus on performance.
Rabois maintained that his mission, along with that of the renewed leadership team, is to restore Opendoor’s emphasis on what he termed “merit and excellence.” By this, he intended to signal a reorientation toward rewarding individual achievements, measurable outcomes, and efficiency, rather than maintaining programs he perceives as secondary or counterproductive to operational success. He made clear that under his guidance, the company intends to overhaul both its cultural priorities and its staffing model.
Notably, Opendoor declined to provide an immediate response when contacted by Business Insider regarding Rabois’s comments. The absence of a statement leaves open questions about how the rest of the company’s leadership and rank-and-file employees are reacting to the sweeping critique.
Rabois’s views reflect a broader trend emerging across the technology industry, where influential executives have increasingly expressed open skepticism toward remote work. In recent years—and particularly as pandemic-era workplace adaptations have wound down—many high-profile firms have reintroduced mandatory return-to-office policies. Corporate leaders frequently describe these mandates as a way to strengthen collaboration, accelerate decision-making, and in some cases indirectly reduce workforce numbers without resorting to explicit layoffs. At the same time, several major technology companies, including Amazon, Google, and Meta, have scaled back or reassessed their DEI initiatives, citing shifting priorities or changing business environments.
This moment for Opendoor, therefore, is not simply the story of one company but part of a larger industry-wide reorientation. Rabois’s direct and often provocative statements serve as both a signal and a reflection of how venture capital-backed technology firms are scrutinizing expenses, reorganizing their teams, and reconsidering the cultural frameworks that defined their workplaces during the last decade. Whether these interventions will ensure greater operational efficiency or risk alienating employees remains to be seen, but the stakes are unusually high given Opendoor’s newfound visibility as both a business and a stock market phenomenon.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/opendoor-keith-rabois-headcount-slashed-end-remote-work-dei-2025-9
