1 year later.

Compass Team,

One year ago today, Compass became a publicly traded company. Today, I’m proud to say that by every business metric, we’re in the strongest position we’ve ever been as a company. The big exception is our stock price, which is down significantly, largely due to many factors that are outside of our control like inflation, fear of low housing inventory, market turbulence caused by a war in Ukraine, and rising interest rates. According to a recent analysis, 47% of NASDAQ companies were trading more than 50% below their 52-week high.

In 2001, after Amazon’s stock price had dropped 80% due to market-wide trends, Jeff Bezos reminded his team that the stock is not the company and the company is not the stock. Given how well our company is performing financially and operationally, that’s true for us, as well. So let’s look a little closer at where the company is today and where we’re headed.

Headwinds — the challenging external forces we face as a business right now.

• Rising interest rates
• Inflation
• Low housing supply 
• War in Ukraine
• Stock market turbulence

Tailwinds — all of the success, momentum and outside factors pushing us forward.

• Ranked #1 brokerage in the country by sales volume
• #1 or #2 in more major markets in the U.S. than any other company
• 5.6% national market share, up 5x from 1.1% in 2018 — with enormous room still to grow
• Covering nearly half the U.S. population
• 169% revenue growth over the past 2 years, from ~$2.4B in 2019 to ~$6.4B in 2021
• 26,000+ of the nation’s best agents
• Compass agents sell more than 3x the average agent in sales volume
• 4,500+ of the best technology, marketing, support, sales and operations employees in this industry or any industry
• Compass agents grew their transactions 2.1x faster than the market in 2021 and 3x faster in 2020
• The best platform to help agents save time and grow their business, featuring everything from Likely To Sell to Business Tracker to CRM to Marketing Center to Transaction Management to Compass Coming Soons to Compass Concierge
• A platform that drives results: The top 25% of agent teams who use the platform the most grow their business 2.6x faster than the 25% of teams who use it the least — and have 98% annual retention
• Transformational coaching programs like the 10x10 Business Growth Challenge, 6AMERS, and Compass CORE — in which roughly 7,000 agents participated in Q1
• The most valuable referral network in the country — made even more powerful with Find An Agent, Coming Soons, and Private Exclusives

As you can see, we have many more tailwinds than headwinds. But even more importantly, I believe the headwinds are temporary while the tailwinds are permanent. Once the markets have stabilized, we’ll still have all of these amazing tailwinds pushing us forward. 

I have more conviction than ever before that we are going to build the future of real estate. And these tough economic times actually make our success more likely, not less, because of how much we’ve invested and accomplished over the past 9+ years and how difficult it will be for others to raise capital to compete in this environment. Over the next few years, our platform will get better every month — and I expect that most others will stay in the same place.

We are so busy with the day-to-day that I’m not sure that many people can fully envision what Compass could look like in the years ahead. Can you? Can you imagine… 

• When we’ve earned 20% market share nationally and you can’t walk a few residential blocks in any U.S. city without seeing a Compass sign? 
• When we’re reaching 80% of the U.S. population — and many of the top global cities, as well?
• When we’re facilitating more than a trillion dollars of sales volume per year? 
• When our stock price actually reflects the real value we’re creating in the world? 
• When mortgage, title, escrow, home insurance and all the other valuable services that help home buyers, sellers, and homeowners are built naturally into the workflow and deliver immense value to you and your clients? 
• When the majority of homeowners, buyers and sellers in the country have a Client Dashboard that encompasses all their real estate needs and they recognize that Compass is the only company that can provide them with it?
• When Compass is globally recognized as a trusted luxury brand on par with Mercedes Benz, American Express, and Apple?
• When potential clients universally believe it would be irresponsible to not work with a Compass agent? 

That is the vision we’re pursuing.

At Compass, we’re driven by our commitment to empower agents like you to realize your entrepreneurial potential and deliver an exceptional experience to every buyer and seller. You deserve the absolute best, but agents have been undersupported and underinvested in for far too long. The work you do — helping people find their place in the world — matters. It’s incredibly meaningful to every client you serve and to all of us. 

Together, we have the opportunity to create a once-in-a-generation company and community, and thanks to your talent and tenacity, we are well on our way. Thank you for everything you’ve done to get us this far. Here’s to walking the road ahead with the wind at our backs!

Best,

Robert