INDUSTRY HEADLINES WITH KEVIN KAUFFMAN & FRED WEAVER

It's Quarter 3 Earnings Reports Season!

Redfin beats expectations, posts $239M in revenue for Q3 2019

The latest earnings report comes as the tech-oriented brokerage steadily expands programs such as RedfinNow and Redfin Direct, which could upend how consumers engage with real estate

Redfin continued a multi-quarter hot streak Wednesday, revealing that during the third quarter of this year it raked in $239 million in revenue.

The online brokerage’s revenue represented a jump of 70 percent year-over-year. Gross profit also jumped from $42.3 million a year ago to $53.4 million this quarter, an increase of 26 percent. And earnings per share ended up at $0.07.

All of those figures easily beat analyst expectations. Leading into Wednesday’s report, financial experts had expected to see the company bring in $230.14 million in revenue, an increase of merely 64.1 percent year-over-year. Analysts also expected earnings-per-share to remain unchanged from a year ago at $0.04.

 Realogy posts a net loss of $70M in Q3 after $1.6B in revenue

The loss was driven primarily by a $180M impairment at NRT, Realogy's own-side brokerage

Realogy reported a net loss of $70 million in the third quarter of 2019, a major swing from the $103 million in profit it posted in the third quarter of 2018. The loss was driven primarily by a $180 million impairment at NRT, Realogy’s own-side brokerage, according to the company.

The company also posted an adjusted earnings per share of $0.65, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 per share.

Realogy to Sell its Global Relocation Business to SIRVA Worldwide, Inc. in $400 Million Transaction

- Realogy will use a substantial majority of net proceeds to pay down corporate debt and will leverage Broker Network and Affinity business to serve a broader customer-base

Saddled with $3.5 billion in total debt, Realogy said Thursday that it will sell Cartus’ relocation business to SIRVA, a relocation company that owns Allied Van Lines. The deal does not include recent affiliations meant to drive business, such as partnerships with Amazon and AARP.

“This transaction is about simplifying and amplifying — simplifying Realogy’s business, and amplifying Realogy’s value,” the company said in a statement. The deal is expected to close during the first half of 2020.

 EXp World Holdings posts major revenue gain, losses narrow

The parent company of eXp Realty beat the consensus estimate, posting a net loss of $0.03 per share and revenue of $282M

EXp World Holdings, the parent company of virtual cloud real estate brokerage eXp Realty, continued its precipitous growth in the third quarter of 2019, posting $282 million in revenue, a year-over-year growth of nearly 80 percent.

 SoftBank posts $6.4B loss, CEO 'regrets' WeWork investment

The company also reported it lost $4.6B in its WeWork stock value after WeWork's failed initial public offering

SoftBank, the Japanese conglomerate with a heavy investment in U.S. tech startups, posted a net loss of slightly more than 700 billion Japanese yen – or approximately $6.4 billion – in the second quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020.

The company also reported after WeWork’s failed initial public offering and public valuation plummet that it lost approximately $4.6 billion in its WeWork stock value from that valuation decline.

 Compass makes major changes to its stock option program

The company is shifting from offering equity stock options to restricted stock units that would vest in the event of an IPO

Compass is making big changes to its agent equity program, according to an internal memo obtained exclusively by Inman. The company is shifting from offering equity stock options — an option to buy stock in the future at a set price, or strike price — to restricted stock units that will vest under certain conditions.