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Another round of layoffs for Compass Real Estate
Compass’ Robert Reffkin (Compass, Illustration by The Real Deal with Getty)
Compass announced another round of layoffs yesterday, which the company said is the last wave of staff cutbacks it will need to undertake to reduce its expenses to a point where it can be cash-flow positive by mid-2023.
The brokerage did not say how many employees are affected in the latest round. The filing announcing the reductions said the move would incur $10 million to $12 million in severance costs, just under the $15 million to $16 million incurred when it laid off 450 employees last June.
The company said in the SEC filing its US technology and engineering team, hit hard by previous layoffs, was not affected.
A company spokesperson declined to comment on the layoffs.
CEO Robert Reffkin said in the company’s third quarter earnings call that it was planning for a “significant double-digit decline” in the market this year.
The New York-based company, which was the top brokerage nationally by sales volume in 2021, is seeking to become profitable for the first time amid a market downturn and a pullback from its largest investor, Softbank.
Compass said it lost $154 million in the third quarter of last year, up from $101 million in quarter two, along with an increased cash-burn rate. Investors initially responded well to information in the earnings report and the stock rose 90 percent the following day, though it was still down more than 60 percent since the start of 2022.
The company is expected to announced its fourth quarter and full-year earnings in February.
