(Bloomberg) — Opendoor Technologies Inc., a real estate company that became a meme stock in recent months, said Chief Executive Officer Carrie Wheeler is stepping down immediately, an announcement that sent the stock surging. Shrisha Radhakrishna has been named president and interim leader of Opendoor, the company said in a statement Friday. Opendoor shares soared Friday, rising as much as 16% before paring the gain slightly. The stock was up about 9% to $3.32 at 11:36 a.m. in New York. Wheeler approached the board in the middle of this year to begin a succession planning process. The company has retained Spencer Stuart to help with the hunt and said its search is “well underway.” Opendoor has been well known for its software-driven approach to flipping homes known as iBuying, which caught on with consumers in the hot housing market that followed early Covid lockdowns. The strategy became tougher in the middle of 2022 when interest rates started rising. A plunge in the stock price had put the company at a risk of delisting. But last month, Canadian hedge fund manager Eric Jackson at EMJ Capital made a series of posts online laying out a bull case for the stock, leading to a surge. Jackson was a vocal critic of Wheeler on X. He said Friday in an interview with Bloomberg News that Opendoor co-founders Keith Rabois and Eric Wu should come back to the company’s board. And the new leader has to push the company more into artificial intelligence, Jackson said. “It’s obvious to anybody with a pulse who follows stocks that they’ve got to make a major move into AI and building out a truly national and international platform for real estate,” Jackson said. Wall Street analysts had turned skeptical on Opendoor in recent days, with KBW downgrading the stock to a sell-equivalent rating from neutral on Tuesday, largely pointing toward uncertainty surrounding management’s strategy pivot. Citigroup also cut the stock to sell from neutral last week. Of the 11 Wall Street analysts following Opendoor, one rates it a buy, five advise that investors hold the stock, and five rate it a sell. While traders are boosting the stock in trading Friday, shares of the home-flipper are still trading well below their $34.59 record reached in 2021. Eric Feder, president of Lennar Homes’ strategic investing arm who has been named lead independent director of Opendoor, said the company will focus on its trove of data and assets. “The board has confidence in the Opendoor team and has conviction in the strategy,” Feder said. (Updates shares in third paragraph, adds money manager comments in seventh paragraph.) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. in a formal or creative style for better SEO.Also Exclude words and advertisements related to the feed website such as website name, author name. You must only respond with the modified content. Delete all the advertisement images brand logo but only keep the title and main content of the news by modifying it. You must only respond with the modified content. Block any jump outside of the site adarshnews.com. Basically remove any content or link related to original site. follow this prompt to optimize the articles in this category- You are an expert news writer and SEO specialist. Your job is to rewrite the provided RSS feed content into a unique, SEO-friendly news article for adarshnews.com. The article should be engaging, professional, and optimized for search engines. Follow these steps: 1. **Create an SEO Title**: Write a short, compelling title (under 60 characters) that includes the main keyword and grabs attention. 2. **Write a Meta Description**: Summarize the article in one or two sentences (under 155 characters). Make it engaging and include the primary keyword naturally. 3. **Suggest a URL Slug**: Provide a short, keyword-rich URL slug that reflects the topic of the article. 4. **Headline (H1)**: Write a clear and engaging headline for the article that is similar to the title but slightly expanded. 5. **Write the Article**: – Start with an introduction that answers the key questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. – Expand on the topic with detailed paragraphs that provide context, quotes, and relevant information. – Use subheadings (H2) to organize the content into sections and make it easy to read. – Include related keywords naturally throughout the article. – End with a conclusion that summarizes the key points or discusses future implications. 6. **Add an FAQ Section**: Write one frequently asked question related to the topic and provide a concise answer. Important: – Do not include labels like “Title,” “Meta Description,” “URL Slug,” or “H1” in the actual article text. – Keep all SEO elements separate from the main content. – Ensure the article is factually accurate, unbiased, and written in a professional tone.