After two decades at the helm of real estate brokerage company Redfin, CEO Glenn Kelman is moving on.
Kelman, who was named chief executive in 2005, a year after the company’s founding, announced the news in a LinkedIn post that featured an image of a sailboat floating in the shadows of a massive iceberg. The image was captioned, “Unemployed, In Greenland.”
“After 20 years, I’m leaving Redfin,” Kelman wrote. “I gave it my all! Leaving was my decision. I love my colleagues. We saved consumers a billion dollars in commissions. I hope to use all that I learned to do something as good as Redfin, in a different field.”
Kelman’s departure comes during a transitional period for Redfin. In July, Rocket Companies — the parent company of Detroit-based Rocket Mortgage — announced that it had completed its $1.75 billion acquisition of Redfin.
The transaction merged the capabilities of one of the largest mortgage lenders in the U.S. with Redfin’s popular digital platform, which offers residential real estate listings and mortgage origination services. In October, Rocket continued its acquisition spree, closing on a $14.2 billion purchase of loan servicer Mr. Cooper Group.
Varun Krishna, CEO of Rocket Companies, confirmed the news of Kelman’s decision in a separate LinkedIn post.
“When I became a new CEO in a new industry just over 2 years ago, one of my first calls was to Glenn Kelman,” Krishna wrote. “That relationship deepened when Rocket and Redfin joined forces to transform homeownership last summer. So today’s news is bittersweet.”
Krishna, who said he will serve as interim CEO of Redfin until a permanent replacement is secured, added that Kelman’s “credentials speak for themselves,” calling him a “true industry disruptor” who “transformed a startup into a publicly traded real estate titan.”
Kelman elaborated on his career move in an email to Redfin employees shared on his LinkedIn page, which indicated his last day in the office will be Friday.
“Redfin just completed our first phase as a Rocket company, integration,” Kelman wrote. “We’ll start the second, much-longer phase at next week’s all-company meeting, which is much-greater scale. Approaching that, I had to decide whether to be at Rocket for years.
“Instead, I want to try finding another mission-driven enterprise outside of real estate. I’m grateful that Rocket has turned out to be such a good owner of Redfin, and that Varun has been such a kind leader.”
He then added: “It’s just hard to go because I love Redfin.”
