Amid a period of significant change and belt-tightening, Compass announced Thursday that it has let go of Chief Technology Officer Joseph Sirosh.
Sirosh had served as Compass’ CTO since late 2018.
Joseph Sirosh
Compass announced Sirosh’s departure in an email to Inman, saying the company had “decided to part ways” with the executive, “who we thank for his many contributions and wish him well in his future endeavors.”
The brokerage does not immediately plan to fill the CTO role. Instead, the job’s duties will be distributed to Kendra Shimmell and Shay Artzi, both previously vice presidents at the company who have now been promoted to head of product and head of engineering, respectively.
In the email, Compass framed the executive shake-up as part of a new chapter in its history.
“With the successful rollout of the Compass technology platform, Compass now enters its next phase with the largest technology team in our industry, focused on enhancing and building tools that help our over 28,000 agent-entrepreneurs grow their businesses,” the email states.
Shimmell and Artzi will report to Chief Operating Officer Greg Hart, who joined Compass in 2020.
Compass’ spokesperson also pointed Inman Thursday to a comment Hart made on a recent earnings call, during which the executive noted that the company is on the verge of rolling out an end-to-end platform and is thus able to “moderate our investment in [research and development].”
News of Sirosh’s departure was first reported Thursday afternoon by the Real Deal.
Sirosh joined Compass after spending five-and-a-half years at Microsoft. At the time of his hiring, the brokerage touted his past experience with artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud computing, among other abilities. Prior to Microsoft, he spent more than eight years working in leadership roles at Amazon.
During his time at Compass, Sirosh frequently offered commentary on various product launches and acquisitions.
Just days ago, Sirosh also made headlines for selling 220,000 shares of Compass stock. At the time of the sale, the shares would have netted him about $870,000. A Compass spokesperson said the sale had been scheduled far in advance and was not related to Sirosh’s departure from the company.
Sirosh also leaves Compass at a pivotal and transitional time. Last week, the company reported that during the second quarter of 2022 its revenue ticked upward slightly compared to the same time last year, but that it also saw losses rise to $101 million. During a call with investors, company leaders consequently described a cost-savings plan that they said would create positive cash flow by next year.
The plan included layoffs earlier this year and now involves cutting new agent perks, such as cash incentives and stock awards. All new agents will also have a standardized commission split. Experts recently told Inman that such shifts could present a challenge for Compass’ growth, though they also noted that the brokerage had reached a point where it needed to cut costs somehow.
Compass, like all companies in real estate, is also contending at the moment with a dramatically slowing market. Rising rates have been the primary cause of the slowdown, and during the company’s recent earnings call, CEO Robert Reffkin described the shift as significant.
“Never in my time at Compass,” Reffkin told investors on the call, “have we seen such a big downturn in such a short time.”