Opendoor to Shut Down India Operations, Affecting Employees

American digital real estate company Opendoor has begun shutting down its India operations, affecting employees who worked for the company in the country.

The announcement was made by Opendoor CEO Kaz Nejatian, who shared an internal note sent to employees.

In the message, he said the company had started saying goodbye to its colleagues in India as it begins the process of winding down its India-based operations.

"When we launched Opendoor 2.0 a few months ago, Opendoor had nearly 250 employees in India," Nejatian wrote.

He said some of those roles had already been moved back to the United States in recent months and the company is now finalising that transition.

"Today, we are finalizing bringing these roles closer to our customers in America and beginning the process of winding down our India-based operations," he said.

According to the CEO, the decision affects all employees based in India.

However, he stressed that the move was not related to their performance.

"This affects all of our colleagues in India who have done meaningful work for Opendoor. I am grateful for their dedication and this decision is not a reflection of the quality of their work," he wrote.

Opendoor said the decision is linked to changes made under its new operating model, called Opendoor 2.0.

The company said it had previously built a large India team to manage manual workflows across different systems.

As those systems have been streamlined and new customer-facing teams have been hired in the United States, the company believes the work should be carried out closer to its customers

"Our customers are in America, and the operational work we do for them is best done close to them," Nejatian said.

The company also pointed to greater use of technology and AI-driven tools as part of its restructuring.

According to the CEO, Opendoor will operate with a smaller workforce while expecting employees to take on broader responsibilities supported by the tools developed internally.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Opendoor is known for pioneering the "iBuyer" model, which allows homeowners to receive cash offers for their properties online without following the traditional home-selling process.