Compass strong quarter does not settle the MLS antitrust debate

Read the Compass earnings release and you see a company firing on every cylinder. Listen to the earnings call and you hear a CEO on a mission to tear down the rules that govern listing data. The distance between those two things is exactly where agents should be paying attention. The numbers are strong. Full stop. Take the figures straight from Compass’s own investor release. Second quarter revenue of $4.3 billion. GAAP net income of $92 million, more than double the $39 million from a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA of $363 million. The company said it had actioned the full $300 million in planned Year 1 Anywhere synergies five months early and increased its target to $330 million. It guided third quarter revenue to between $3.85 and $4.05 billion. This is a company executing a difficult integration well, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. The argument that came in with the earnings On the call, Reffkin made his case against the MLS. “We are infusing competition in real estate. I believe in competition. Not only does the law require companies to compete, but competition is the bedrock of our economy,” he said. He called the multiple listing service the biggest obstacle to ...