Opendoor shuts India operations, lays off 250 in AI shift

Opendoor ↘ 1.04%, the US-based real estate technology company, is winding down its entire India operations, letting go of nearly 250 employees as it relocates roles to the United States under its AI-focused "Opendoor 2.0" strategy.

CEO Kaz Nejatian announced the decision on Wednesday, June 10, in a post on X and an internal note to staff. "Our customers are in America, and that's where our operational work belongs," he wrote, according to The Economic Times.economictimes

From Manual Workflows to AI-Native Teams

The company had built a large India-based workforce over the years to handle manual workflows spread across multiple systems. But as Opendoor unified those systems and hired smaller, AI-native customer-facing teams across the US, the offshore center became redundant.moneycontrol+1

In his internal note, Nejatian said the company had roughly 250 employees in India when it launched Opendoor 2.0 a few months ago. Several of those roles had already been shifted stateside in recent months, and the latest move finalizes that process.economictimes+1

"As we've unified these systems and have hired small AI-native customer-facing teams throughout the US, we need all this operational work to be done in person and close to our customers," the note stated, according to The Economic Times.economictimes

Severance and Market Reaction

Opendoor said affected workers in India will receive severance benefits, outplacement services, and other transition support. Nejatian acknowledged in his note that the impacted employees had made meaningful contributions to the company.ndtv+2

Investors appeared to welcome the restructuring. Opendoor's stock rose on the announcement, with market participants interpreting the closure as validation of the company's AI-led operational overhaul.aiweekly

Broader Implications for Offshore Outsourcing

The move adds to a growing list of US technology firms rethinking their India operations as AI tools increasingly replace tasks once handled by large offshore teams. For years, India's cost advantage made it a hub for back-office operations, but the rapid advancement of AI-driven automation is reshaping that calculus — raising questions about the long-term viability of traditional outsourcing models.thehindubusinessline+1