Opendoor's stock soars again, with leadership changes hailed as 'incredible outcome' for shareholders

By James Rogers

The company's shares closed at their highest in more than three years, as investors cheered a new CEO and the return of two co-founders to the board

Opendoor Technologies announced the appointment of Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian as its new CEO.

Shares of Opendoor Technologies Inc. hit a three-year high Thursday, as investors cheered the announcement of a new chief executive and the return of two co-founders to the company's board.

Opendoor (OPEN), the e-commerce platform for residential real-estate transactions, said late Wednesday that Shopify Inc. (SHOP) Chief Operating Officer Kaz Nejatian had been named its CEO.

The San Francisco-based company also announced that co-founders Keith Rabois and Eric Wu will be returning to its board, with Rabois taking on the role of chairman.

Also adding to investor enthusiasm, Wu and venture-capital firm Khosla Ventures, where Rabois is a managing director, will invest $40 million in Opendoor, which the company will use to invest in its business.

The stock closed at $10.48 to register its highest close since Feb. 24, 2022, when it closed at $10.98, Dow Jones Market Data show. Opendoor shares, which rose 78.8% during the session, also registered their largest percentage increase on record, based on available data back to June 2020.

Noted Opendoor bull Eric Jackson, founder of EMJ Capital, welcomed the news, which he described as "an INCREDIBLE OUTCOME for all shareholders."

Jackson had been vocal in calling for leadership change at the company, which announced last month that then-CEO Carrie Wheeler, who also chaired Opendoor's board, was stepping down from her roles.

The fund manager had also been pushing for Rabois to return to the Opendoor board. "There is NO ONE as smart as Keith in tech," he wrote on X in a separate post. "And he is our Chairman."

Jackson added that Rabois "gives a damn" about the company and will never stop working until it achieves its full potential. "As shareholders, we couldn't be in better hands. The FOUNDER DNA is now officially back at OPEN - directly in its veins!"

Heavily shorted Opendoor has seen a frenzy of activity in recent weeks, which sent the stock skyrocketing and sparked comparisons with prior meme-stock explosions. That frenzy also lifted shares of Kohl's Corp. (KSS) and Krispy Kreme Inc. (DNUT)

Jackson, however, has scorned the suggestion that Opendoor is a meme stock, describing it instead as a "cult stock." A high-profile figure in the online investing community, Jackson has been rallying retail-investor support around what has been dubbed the "OPEN army."

Opendoor's stock has run up 554.7% in 2025 - and 1,641.8% in the last three months. Meanwhile, more than a quarter of the company's public float has been shorted, or used to bet on prices falling.

Opendoor said recently that it is throwing its weight behind artificial intelligence, much to the delight of Jackson and other investors.

In its statement announcing the CEO appointment, Opendoor described Nejatian as an "AI-native" executive. "He is a decisive leader who has driven product innovation at scale, ruthlessly reduced [general and administrative] expenses to drive profitability and deeply understands the potential for AI to radically reshape a company's entire operations," Rabois said in the statement. Rabois also described Opendoor as "an AI-first company."

However, Erik Gordon, clinical professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, recently told MarketWatch he is skeptical about Opendoor's AI push.

-James Rogers

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-11-25 1635ET