Compass Leans On Christie’s Acquisition Playbook Ahead Of Anywhere Merger

As Compass and its executives head into the tail end of 2025 and the first half of 2026, it is clear that they have one thing in mind: the successful closure and integration of the Anywhere Real Estate acquisition. 

But while Compass CEO and founder Robert Reffkin acknowledged that this task would be like nothing his firm has done before, he told investors and analysts listening to his firm’s third-quarter 2025 earnings call Tuesday morning, that he was confident the company could pull it off. Much of this confidence stems from the successful integration of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate, an operation Compass acquired earlier this year. 

“While we recognize that the Anywhere transaction is clearly much bigger in size, we are confident that we can replicate the Christie’s International Real Estate playbook at Anywhere over time,” Reffkin said during the call. 

How did Christie’s shake out?

To illustrate where some of this confidence is coming from, Reffkin relayed to investors and analysts some of what he and the team have observed since closing the Christie’s International Real Estate acquisition in January of this year. Reffkin noted that since closing the transaction, they have been able to increase the number of net new principal agents to the Christie’s business.

Additionally, they have welcomed four new Christie’s affiliates into the fold, with an additional six new affiliates in the pipeline. The title insurance business that was previously owned by Christie’s has also seen massive improvements since the acquisition, experiencing a 1,000 basis point increase in attach rate, which Reffkin attributed to more Compass agents choosing to partner with what is now an in-house title operation.

Similar improvements were recorded with Christie’s mortgage joint venture with Guaranteed Rate, with Reffkin noting improvements to the profitability to both Compass’s JV and Christie’s JV post-close. 

Reffkin excited about cost synergies

While Reffkin is pleased with all of these results, he seemed most excited by the fact that the firm was on track to deliver the $30 million in cost synergies it had promised by bringing the “Compass OpEx improvement playbook” to the Christie’s acquisition. Due to this success, Reffkin said he was making a “CEO commitment” that through the Anywhere acquisition, Compass will deliver more than $300 million in new cost synergies, representing 11% of combined annualized non-GAAP OpEx.

“This is a CEO commitment, backed by the same discipline and focus that allowed us to reset our cost structure without compromising our core growth engine,” Reffkin said. “We will hold ourselves accountable to this new benchmark, and we will update you on progress every quarter post-close.” 

Zooming out from the operating expense savings goals Compass hopes to achieve with the Anywhere acquisition, Reffkin reassured investors and analysts that he and his firm are confident in their ability to get the deal approved and closed during the second half of 2026. 

“We firmly believe that this is a pro-competitive deal that will bring more choice and better products to home sellers, homebuyers, real estate professionals and to franchise owners. As one of the largest shareholders in Compass, I believe this combination is highly compelling for all our shareholders,” Reffkin said. “The positive reaction from agents inside and outside of Compass only reinforces my view that we are creating a premier platform in residential real estate that will make the home selling and home buying better for consumers, and ensure that real estate professionals and franchise owners continue to thrive for decades to come.”

Compass hits pause on future acquisitions until Anywhere deal closes

As Compass looks to successfully close this transaction and successfully integrate Anywhere’s business into its own, executives said this will be the firm’s primary M&A focus.

“Given the pending merger, we are going to hit a pause on incremental tuck-in M&A as we shift our focus on executing the integration slowly,” Reffkin said. “The main thing is flawless integration and day one execution for a majority of execution tasks and getting everyone on the platform, while still driving free cash flow in the interim period and afterwards.”

While much of the call was focused on the Anywhere and Christie’s acquisitions, Reffkin did take some time to discuss AI and Compass’s three-phased marketing strategy. When it comes to AI, in addition to the internal tech developments, Reffkin noted that many client leads are coming to Compass agents via ChatGPT, but not through any sort of integration or formal lead generation mechanism. 

“The ChatGPT lead flow is coming organically from the outside world,” Reffkin said. “This really does mark a different era. The technology was being used by companies to force agents to pay for leads when they didn’t have the experience to do their own lead generation and not that same technology is being used to guide clients organically to the best agents.” 

In the past, Reffkin said consumers would use Google to search for the best agents in their area, but now those top search results have been taken over by sponsored ads, leading consumers to agents who pay the most in advertising and who may not be the best in their market.

“What is great is that ChatGPT is bringing the lead flow back to the truth and to the organic path to the best, most experienced agents,” Reffkin said.

More choices, not less

When it comes to the three-phased marketing plan, Reffkin told listeners that they would not be diving into the topic, but he did note that clients “continue to want more choices, not less choices,” and that no agents have told him that offering the three-phased marketing strategy at a listing presentation have hurt their chances of winning the listing. 

This is certainly reflected in Compasses 21.5% annual increase in transaction count in Q3 2025, which came in at 67,886 transactions, with a total gross transaction value of $70.7 billion, up 22.5% year-over-year. Additionally, Compass’s national quarterly market share was 5.63% in Q3, up 83 basis points from the year prior. This growth helped fuel a 23.6% annual increase in revenue to $1.85 billion. Compass executives noticed that organic revenue alone rose 11% year-over-year. 

Despite these increases, Compass still recorded a net loss of $4.6 million for the quarter, up from a net loss of $1.9 million a year ago. Overall, however, for the nine months ending Sept. 30, Compass has recorded a net loss of $16.2 million, down from $114.1 million during the same time period in 2024. Additionally, Q3 2025 marked Compass’s seventh consecutive quarter of being free cash flow positive with a free cash flow of $73.6 million. 

“The Compass team produced the strongest Q3 results in our history. For 18 consecutive quarters, spanning our entire history as a public company, Compass has outperformed the market on an organic basis. There has never been a quarter since we started measuring this metric, where Compass hasn’t grown faster than the market,” Reffkin said. “We believe we can continue to outgrow the market even once we close the Anywhere transaction.”