Compass called itself a technology company, yet nearly all its revenue came from the commissions of real estate agents. Founders Robert Reffkin and Ori Allon started it in New York in 2012. With hundreds of millions of dollars from SoftBank, Compass recruited top agents from older brokerages and gave them software to run their business. When it filed to go public in March 2021, low interest rates and a pandemic rush for space had made the housing market roar.

Recruit the Best Agents

Reffkin had worked at Goldman Sachs and in the White House. Allon was an engineer who had sold a search startup to Google. They began as Urban Compass, a rental search site, then turned into a brokerage. The bet was that agents, not buyers, were the customers that mattered. Compass offered them a shared platform for listings, marketing, and client records. It grew fast by moving into city after city and buying local firms.

Bigger Than the Old Guard

Compass priced its shares at $18 on March 31, 2021, at the low end of a reduced range. The stock opened at $21.25 on the New York Stock Exchange the next day. Higher mortgage rates soon cooled the housing market, and Compass cut staff and costs. In January 2026 it completed an all-stock purchase of Anywhere Real Estate, owner of Coldwell Banker and Century 21. Compass still trades on the NYSE under COMP.

Cover: New York from the Shelton, Alfred Stieglitz. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for the New York skyline (a city of homes).