Compass, Inc.

Last updated

Compass, Inc.
Company type Public
NYSE:  COMP
Industry Real estate
FoundedOctober 4, 2012;11 years ago (2012-10-04)
FounderOri Allon
Robert Reffkin
Avi Dorfman [1]
Headquarters,
United States
Area served
United States
Key people
  • Ori Allon (Executive Chairman)
  • Robert Reffkin (CEO)
  • Kalani Reelitz (CFO)
Services Broker
RevenueDecrease2.svg US$6.018 billion (2022)
Decrease2.svg US$589 million (2022)
Decrease2.svg US$601 million (2022)
Total assets Decrease2.svg US$1.533 billion (2022)
Total equity Increase2.svg US$520 million (2022)
Owner SoftBank Vision Fund (30.1%)
Robert Reffkin (2.1%)
Number of employees
3,191 (2022)
Website compass.com
Footnotes /references
[2] [3]

Compass, Inc. operates a residential real estate brokerage in the United States. [4] [5] It has approximately 28,000 agents, who are generally independent contractors, on its platform. [2]

Contents

In 2022, the company completed 211,538 transactions for a gross dollar value of $230.3 billion. It had a market share in the U.S. of 4.5%. [2] SoftBank Vision Fund owns 30.1% of the company. [3]

For its customers who sell their homes, in addition to regular brokerage services, the company provides access to loans to make home improvements [6] and access to bridge loans to fund down payments on new homes before the customers' previous home is sold. [7] [8]

History

Compass was founded by Ori Allon, Robert Reffkin, and Avi Dorfman as Urban Compass, Inc. in New York City in October 2012. [2] [9] Allon was a Director of Engineering at Twitter, and previously founded companies acquired by Twitter and Google. [10] Reffkin had previously served as the chief of staff to the president of Goldman Sachs [11] and worked in the White House. [12] [13] Avi Dorfman had previously worked at McKinsey & Company and Lehman Brothers, and founded a startup.

The company raised $8 million of seed funding. [13] [10] The initial business model employed full-time, salaried brokers [14] and was focused only on rentals. [15] The service was launched in May 2013. [16] [15]

In January 2014, Compass announced it would change its overall business model by contracting independent real estate agents, receiving a portion of the broker commission. [17]

In July 2014, Compass signed a lease on 25,000 square feet of office space at 90 5th Avenue, which became its global headquarters. [18]

In June 2014, Leonard Steinberg, previously with Douglas Elliman, was named president of the company. [19] [20] At that time, the company had 125 agents and 70 staff members. [21]

In July 2016, the company launched a mobile app. [22]

The company expanded into several markets, both organically and via acquisitions. By January 2017, the company operated in 9 U.S. markets: New York, Boston, San Francisco, Miami, Washington, the Hamptons, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Aspen. [23] At that time, it had 1,300 agents. [24]

On April 1, 2021, the company became a public company via an initial public offering. [25]

In November 2021, Compass formally settled with Avi Dorfman, ending an 8-year dispute, and acknowledging him as a member of the founding team. [9] The company took a $21.3 million charge in connection with the matter. [26]

The company announced several rounds of layoffs in 2022 and 2023. [27] [28]

Acquisitions

DateAcquiredDescriptionSource
November 2014Lindsay Reishman Real EstateWashington, D.C.-based broker [29] [30]
April 2016Shane Aspen Real EstateAspen-based broker [31]
January 2017Bushari Real EstateBoston-based brokerage [32]
April 2018ConlonChicago-based brokerage [33] [34]
April 2018Northwest Group Real EstateSeattle-based brokerage [35] [36]
June 2018The Hudson CompanyChicago-based brokerage [37] [38]
July 2018Paragon Real Estate GroupSan Francisco-based brokerage [39] [40]
August 2018Avenue PropertiesSeattle-based brokerage [41] [42]
August 2018Pacific Union InternationalSan Francisco-based brokerage [43] [44]
November 2018Wydler BrothersWashington, D.C.-based brokerage [45] [46]
February 2019ContactuallyCRM provider; shut down in March 2022 [47]
March 2019 Alain Pinel Realtors San Francisco-based brokerage [48] [49]
April 2019Stribling & AssociatesNew York-based brokerage [50] [51]
November 2019DetecticaAI Startup [52] [53] [54]
October 2020ModusHome closing startup, shut down in June 2022 [55] [56]
February 2021KVS TitleTitle insurance and settlement services provider [57] [58]
April 2021Glide LabsTransaction management platform [59] [60]
September 2021First Alliance TitleTitle insurance and settlement services provider [61] [62]
September 2021CommonGround AbstractTitle insurance and settlement services provider [63] [64]
May 2022Consumer's Title CompanyTitle insurance and settlement services provider [65] [66]
April 2023Launch Real EstateArizona-based brokerage [67] [68]
September 2023Deasy Penner Podley/DPPPasadena-based luxury boutique brokerage [69]
September 2023Realty Austin and Realty San AntonioTexas-based brokerages [70] [71] [72]
January 2024Attorneys Key TitleFort Lauderdale-based title company [73]

Awards

Compass was named Mid-Sized Business of the Year by the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce in 2015. [11]

In 2018, Compass was named to Crain's Fast 50. [74]

In January 2019, it was ranked 14th on Glassdoor's Best Places to Work. [75]

In April 2019, Compass received a Webby Award for Best Real Estate Website. [76]

In August 2019, it was named to Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators. [77]

Compass won the 2020 Webby Award in the real estate web category. [78]

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