What Happened?
Shares of technology real estate company Opendoor (NASDAQ:OPEN) jumped 8.6% in the afternoon session after the company's new CEO, Carrie Wheeler, mandated that all employees must 'Default to AI' as part of a new company-wide policy.
The real estate technology company has established mandatory artificial intelligence usage across all roles, with performance evaluations now measuring how frequently staff use AI tools over traditional software. According to an internal memo, the directive represents what Wheeler describes as "our new standard normal from now on." The memo states that "the first line in everyone's job expectation is simply this: Default to AI." This aggressive push towards AI is tied to Opendoor's mission to improve the process of buying and selling homes, a strategic shift that has apparently resonated positively with investors.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $8.06, up 1.1% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Opendoor’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 95 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 6 days ago when the stock gained 8.7% on the news that investment firm Jane Street Group disclosed it had taken a 5.9% stake in the real estate platform, signaling strong institutional confidence.
According to regulatory filings, the quantitative trading firm acquired 44 million shares. The disclosure built on positive momentum from the previous trading session, which was fueled by strong housing market data. A report from the Census Bureau and Housing & Urban Development showed that new single-family home sales in August jumped 20.5% from the prior month to an annualized rate of 800,000 units. This sharp increase in sales suggested robust demand in the housing market, which created a positive outlook for Opendoor's business.
Opendoor is up 407% since the beginning of the year, but at $8.06 per share, it is still trading 23.4% below its 52-week high of $10.52 from September 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Opendoor’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $433.76.
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