eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

How does a cloud-based real estate brokerage, eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI), manage to drive billions in sales volume while its agent count dips? You're looking at a company that generated $1.3 billion in revenue for the third quarter of 2025, a 7% year-over-year increase, by leveraging a virtual-first model that attracted 83,446 agents globally as of September 30, 2025. This unique structure, which produced $54.1 billion in Q3 2025 real estate sales volume, fundamentally changes the economics of the industry, so understanding its history, ownership, and revenue engine is defintely critical to mapping its future trajectory in a challenging market.

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) History

You want to understand the DNA of eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI), and it starts with a radical idea: ditching the brick-and-mortar office. The company's history is a clear story of an agent-centric, cloud-based model that scaled massively by sharing equity and revenue, a defintely disruptive move in a traditional industry.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

eXp Realty was established in 2009, following a complete re-evaluation of the traditional brokerage model after the 2008 housing market downturn.

Original location

The company was originally located in Bellingham, Washington, a setting far from the major real estate hubs, which fit its remote-first mentality.

Founding team members

The company's founder is Glenn Sanford, who serves as the Founder, Chairman, and CEO.

Initial capital/funding

eXp Realty was largely 'bootstrapped' in its early days. Sanford provided initial funding by selling some of his technology stock and securing a $180,000 home equity line of credit.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The most transformative decision was the founding choice to build a 100% cloud-based brokerage, which cut massive overhead costs and allowed for a higher commission split and unique agent incentives. This was a direct response to the market dropoff in 2008.

The company's growth is tied directly to its agent-centric value proposition, which includes two key components: revenue-sharing and equity awards (stock). Agents can earn stock for various achievements, aligning their personal success with the company's performance.

• Going Public Early: Listing on the public market in 2013 provided the necessary capital to fuel rapid expansion, a critical move for a company prioritizing growth over traditional profit margins early on.
• The VirBELA Acquisition: Purchasing the technology that powers its virtual campus, eXp World, in 2018 cemented its technological advantage and control over its core operating environment.
• 2025 AI Integration: The launch of Mira, an AI-powered business assistant for agents in 2025, is the latest transformative step, aiming to enhance agent productivity and offset market pressures.

To see how this agent-focused strategy is formally defined, you should review the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI).

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Ownership Structure

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) is controlled by a distinct blend of insiders and institutional investors, with its founder maintaining a significant personal stake that gives him considerable influence over strategic decisions.

This structure means that while the company is publicly traded, the core leadership and early investors hold a dominant position, a factor you must consider when evaluating long-term governance and strategy. If you want to dive deeper into the company's core principles, check out its Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI).

eXp World Holdings, Inc.'s Current Status

eXp World Holdings, Inc. is a publicly-traded company, listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol EXPI. As of November 2025, the company's market capitalization stands at approximately $1.66 Billion USD, reflecting its status as a major player in the cloud-based real estate brokerage and technology space.

This public status requires adherence to strict financial reporting and governance standards set by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but its unique ownership mix still allows for a high degree of founder-led direction. The third quarter of 2025 saw the company report revenue of $1.3 billion and net income of $3.5 million, showing continued financial activity in the current fiscal year.

eXp World Holdings, Inc.'s Ownership Breakdown

The company's ownership is heavily concentrated between insiders and institutional funds, which is a key characteristic of its governance model. Insiders, particularly the founder, hold the largest block of shares, giving them a strong voting majority and control over the board of directors. Here's the quick math for the breakdown, using the most recent available data from November 2025 SEC filings:

Insiders owning over 44% of the company means that any major strategic decision, like a merger or acquisition, will defintely require their approval. This high insider ownership is a double-edged sword: it aligns management's interests with long-term shareholder value, but it also limits the influence of outside shareholders.

eXp World Holdings, Inc.'s Leadership

The company is steered by a lean, trend-aware executive team, with the founder still holding the most powerful position. This core group is responsible for navigating the company's unique cloud-based, agent-centric model and its continued global expansion. The key leaders as of November 2025 are:

• Glenn Sanford: Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of eXp World Holdings. He is the visionary behind the model and the largest individual shareholder.
• Leo Pareja: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of eXp Realty. He leads the core real estate brokerage operations.
• Jesse Hill: Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of eXp World Holdings. He manages the company's financials and cash flow, which is crucial given the agent commission model.
• Wendy Forsythe: Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of eXp Realty. She drives the brand and agent attraction strategy.
• James H. Bramble: Chief Legal Counsel, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary.

The leadership team is actively engaged with the investor community, participating in major conferences in November 2025 to discuss the company's performance and future strategy. This level of visibility is a good sign for transparency, but still, the founder's influence is paramount.

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Mission and Values

eXp World Holdings' mission and values cut straight to the core of its cloud-based model, aiming to redefine not just the real estate industry but the very concept of professional work. This is a company culture built on agent empowerment and a commitment to innovation, which is why their agent Net Promoter Score (aNPS) stood at a strong 75 in the third quarter of 2025.

You're looking for a clear signal of what drives a company beyond the quarterly revenue-and with eXp World Holdings, it's a deliberate, agent-first philosophy that translates directly into their financial performance. For a deeper look at who is betting on this model, you should be Exploring eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

eXp World Holdings, Inc.'s Core Purpose

The company's cultural DNA is rooted in a desire to use technology to create a more flexible, resilient, and rewarding work experience globally. This isn't just about selling houses; it's about building a scalable platform business. That focus on the agent as the primary client is what helped drive the company's Q3 2025 revenue to $1.3 billion.

Official Mission Statement

The formal mission statement for eXp World Holdings, Inc. is a broad mandate that goes beyond its core real estate brokerage, eXp Realty. It's about leveraging their cloud technology across all ventures, including their virtual reality platform, FrameVR.io, and their personal development brand, SUCCESS Enterprises.

• To redefine work and success in a changing world.
• Enhance the lives of people and enable business success through cloud-based technologies.

Vision Statement

The vision is a clear, long-term aspiration that frames every strategic decision, from international expansion to technology investment. Their commitment to this vision is why they continue to invest in AI and automation to enhance efficiency, even with Q3 2025 net income at a modest $3.5 million.

• Positively transform the world of work on a global scale.
• Build the most agent-centric real estate platform on the planet.

That second point is the North Star for eXp Realty, honestly. Every investment is filtered through that lens.

eXp World Holdings, Inc. Core Values

The nine core values serve as the operating manual for every agent and employee, emphasizing a collaborative, transparent, and innovative environment. This culture is a key differentiator in attracting and retaining talent, which is critical when your agent count is 83,446 globally as of September 30, 2025.

• Community: Be a good neighbor to create a sustainable legacy.
• Service: Focus on helping others.
• Sustainability: Be a good financial steward of the organization.
• Integrity: Do the right thing.
• Collaboration: Work together, defintely.
• Innovation: Challenge the status quo.
• Agile: Force chaos and change to survive and grow.
• Fun: Enjoy the journey.
• Transparency: Share information and be open.

eXp World Holdings, Inc. Slogan/Tagline

While the holding company doesn't use a single universal slogan, the tagline for its largest subsidiary, eXp Realty, clearly communicates its disruptive business model: a low-overhead, high-flexibility approach that generated $54.1 billion in real estate sales volume in Q3 2025.

• The Real Estate Cloud Brokerage.

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) How It Works

eXp World Holdings, Inc. operates as a technology-first holding company, primarily running the world's largest independent cloud-based real estate brokerage, eXp Realty. The company's core value proposition is simple: cut the massive overhead of physical offices and pass the savings back to its agents through industry-leading commission splits, a revenue-sharing program, and stock equity awards.

This model allows it to scale globally with minimal capital expenditure, attracting agents who become stakeholders, not just employees, which drives organic growth through agent attraction (sponsorship) and retention. In the third quarter of 2025 alone, the company generated $1.3 billion in revenue, a 7% increase year-over-year, proving this lean, agent-centric model is defintely working.

eXp World Holdings, Inc.'s Product/Service Portfolio

eXp World Holdings, Inc.'s Operational Framework

The entire operation is anchored in a virtual, cloud-based ecosystem, eliminating the need for expensive, traditional brick-and-mortar offices. This is the quick math: lower fixed costs mean more money for the agents, which is the whole point.

• Virtual Headquarters: All brokerage functions-training, support, collaboration, and executive meetings-happen in a proprietary 3D virtual world, which drastically reduces overhead costs.
• Agent-as-Stakeholder Model: Agents operate as independent contractors but are incentivized to contribute to company growth via the revenue share program and by earning stock awards (Restricted Stock Units or RSUs) for hitting production milestones (Icon Agent Award) and for sponsoring new agents.
• Decentralized Support: The company uses a lean, centralized staff structure, but for agents, support is delivered virtually through a mix of live staff in the cloud and new AI tools like Mira, the voice-based business assistant launched in late 2025.
• Global Scaling: The cloud platform allows for rapid, low-cost expansion into new international markets like Perú and Türkiye, which drove a 68% year-over-year growth in international revenue for Q3 2025.

eXp World Holdings, Inc.'s Strategic Advantages

The company's competitive edge isn't just technology; it's the financial alignment with its agents, which creates a powerful, self-sustaining recruitment engine. This is a network effect in action, so the platform gets stronger as more productive agents join.

• Superior Agent Value Stack: The combination of a high commission split (typically 80/20), a revenue share plan, and equity ownership is unmatched by most traditional brokerages, offering a clear path for agents to build generational wealth.
• Low Overhead and Capital Efficiency: By avoiding physical office costs, eXp World Holdings maintains a superior financial model, which is why it can afford the generous agent compensation. As of September 30, 2025, the company held $112.8 million in cash and cash equivalents.
• Innovation in Collaboration: Investment in platforms like FrameVR.io and the new AI-powered Hub ensures agents have cutting-edge tools for remote work and team collaboration, keeping the brokerage competitive in a rapidly evolving real estate market.

If you're looking to dive deeper into who is investing in this model and why, you should check out Exploring eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) How It Makes Money

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) primarily makes money by collecting a small percentage of the real estate commissions earned by its vast network of independent agents, operating on a high-split, cloud-based brokerage model that minimizes traditional brick-and-mortar overhead.

The core of the business is a high-volume, low-margin transaction model, supplemented by agent-centric revenue streams like annual fees, transaction fees, and a multi-tiered revenue share program that incentivizes agent recruitment and retention.

eXp World Holdings, Inc.'s Revenue Breakdown

The company's revenue engine is overwhelmingly concentrated in the North American residential real estate market, with the International segment and other ancillary services representing a small but strategically important high-growth component. For the full 2024 fiscal year, the structural breakdown clearly showed the dominance of the core brokerage operations.

Here's the quick math: with the trailing twelve months (TTM) revenue as of Q3 2025 at approximately $4.68 billion, the North American segment accounts for roughly $4.59 billion of that total. [cite: 6 from step 1, 1 from step 4]

Business Economics

The eXp World Holdings' model, centered on eXp Realty, is a textbook example of a low-fixed-cost, high-variable-cost structure, which is highly scalable but sensitive to real estate transaction volume. The key is their agent-centric value proposition, which trades a higher commission split for agent loyalty and recruitment.

• High Commission Split: Agents typically operate on an 80/20 commission split, meaning the agent keeps 80% of the gross commission income (GCI), and the company keeps 20%. [cite: 13 from step 1, 15 from step 1]
• Commission Cap: The company's portion is capped annually at $16,000. Once an agent hits this cap, they move to a 100% commission split for the remainder of their anniversary year, paying only a small per-transaction fee. This is a powerful incentive for high-producing agents. [cite: 13 from step 1, 15 from step 1]
• Revenue Share Program: This is the multi-level marketing (MLM) component, where agents earn a percentage of the company's commission revenue (the 20% 'company dollar') from agents they directly and indirectly attract to the brokerage. The company contributes 50% of its commission dollar into this Revenue Share Pool. [cite: 14 from step 1, 15 from step 1]
• Equity Awards: Agents earn stock awards (EXPI common stock) for achieving production milestones, capping their commission, and attracting other agents. This creates a vested ownership interest and acts as a strong retention mechanism. [cite: 14 from step 1, 15 from step 1]

The model's efficiency is rooted in its cloud-based operations, eliminating the massive fixed costs of physical offices, so they can afford those high agent payouts. What this estimate hides is that the revenue share and stock compensation are significant non-cash or deferred costs that materially impact the bottom line.

eXp World Holdings, Inc.'s Financial Performance

As of the most recent reporting period, the company has demonstrated resilience in a challenging real estate market, showing modest growth in top-line revenue and a return to profitability in Q3 2025.

• Total Revenue: For the third quarter ended September 30, 2025, total revenue was approximately $1.32 billion, representing a 7% increase year-over-year. [cite: 2 from step 3, 6 from step 3, 11 from step 3]
• Net Income and Profitability: The company reported a net income of $3.5 million in Q3 2025, translating to $0.02 per diluted share, a significant turnaround from the net loss reported in the prior year period. [cite: 2 from step 3, 6 from step 3, 11 from step 3]
• Adjusted EBITDA: A key measure of operational health, Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization, adjusted for non-core items) for Q3 2025 was $17.7 million. [cite: 2 from step 3, 6 from step 3, 11 from step 3]
• Agent Metrics: As of September 30, 2025, the global agent count was 83,446, a slight decrease of 2% year-over-year, but agent productivity rose, with real estate sales volume increasing 7% to $54.1 billion in the quarter. The company is trading sheer agent count for more productive agents. [cite: 2 from step 3, 6 from step 3, 11 from step 3]
• Cash Position: The company maintains a healthy liquidity position, with cash and cash equivalents totaling $112.8 million as of September 30, 2025. [cite: 2 from step 3, 6 from step 3]

The International segment is a bright spot, with year-to-date revenue in the first nine months of 2025 surpassing $100 million for the first time in a calendar year, showing the model's scalability outside the U.S. and Canada. [cite: 8 from step 3] If you're digging deeper into the ownership structure and market sentiment, you should be Exploring eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Market Position & Future Outlook

eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) is positioned as a leading disruptor in the residential real estate market, leveraging its cloud-based model to achieve significant scale and a return to profitability in the near-term. The company's Q3 2025 revenue of $1.3 billion and net income of $3.5 million reflect a model that is adapting to a challenging housing market by prioritizing agent productivity and cost-efficiency.

You need to see eXp World Holdings not just as a brokerage, but as a technology and wealth-building platform for agents. The core challenge is converting its massive agent count-83,446 as of Q3 2025-into sustained, high-margin revenue growth, especially as the overall real estate market remains volatile.

Competitive Landscape

The real estate brokerage industry remains highly fragmented, but the largest players are consolidating market share. eXp World Holdings competes directly with traditional and tech-enabled brokerages, primarily by offering a superior agent compensation and equity model, which draws talent from competitors. While Compass, Inc. leads in sales volume, eXp World Holdings is the largest independent brokerage by agent count.

Here's the quick math: Compass, Inc. reported a 6.0% market share in Q1 2025, while eXp World Holdings and Anywhere Real Estate Inc. (via its brokerage arm) are in a tight race for the next spot by sales volume, with both having over $185 billion in 2024 sales volume. [cite: 9, 10, 5 from previous search]

Opportunities & Challenges

Industry Position

eXp World Holdings maintains a strong industry standing by leading with a low-overhead, high-payout model that is highly attractive to entrepreneurial agents. This model allows the company to remain cash-flow positive, reporting $45.4 million in adjusted operating cash flow in Q3 2025. [cite: 6 from previous search]

• Maintain position as the largest independent brokerage by agent count globally. [cite: 17 from previous search]
• International revenue grew 68% year-over-year in Q3 2025, demonstrating successful global scalability. [cite: 18 from previous search]
• Strategic investments in the SUCCESS Enterprises platform and FrameVR.io aim to deepen agent engagement and create a differentiated virtual workplace. [cite: 18 from previous search]
• Margin pressure is a key metric to watch; the GAAP gross margin was 6.5% in Q3 2025, a slight compression due to more top-producing agents hitting their commission caps. [cite: 18 from previous search]

The firm is defintely a leader in the cloud-based brokerage segment, but its long-term success hinges on its ability to diversify revenue streams beyond core brokerage commissions. For a deeper look at the numbers, you should read Breaking Down eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.