Newmark Chief Executive Barry Gosin will step down at the end of the year, ending a nearly five-decade run that helped transform the company from a New York brokerage into one of the world's largest commercial real estate services firms.
The company said Friday that Gosin, 76, will leave the chief executive role on Dec. 31 and become chairman of Newmark & Company Real Estate, Newmark's operating company. He is expected to remain in that role through 2029. Newmark's board said it expects to identify a new CEO by year-end.
“I have spent nearly my entire career at Newmark, working alongside an exceptional team whose dedication, talent and commitment have made the company's success possible,” Gosin said in a statement.
“The company is stronger than ever, our strategy is working, and the opportunities ahead are substantial, which is why I believe now is the right time to take a step back from day-to-day operations to focus solely on matters that will make a difference to Newmark, and to support the company through this transition."
"I believe now is the right time to take a step back from day-to-day operations..."
Stephen Merkel, chairman of the board, executive vice president and chief legal officer of Newmark, said Gosin will remain closely involved with the company.
“For nearly five decades, Barry, along with his entire leadership team, have led Newmark through some of its most consequential milestones, including its initial public offering in 2017 and becoming the fastest growing publicly traded commercial real estate firm in the world, increasing annual revenues by over 1,400% since 2011 while expanding to more than 10,000 professionals across approximately 195 locations,” Merkel said.
Building a global brokerage
Gosin has led Newmark since 1979 and played a central role in many of the firm's defining moments, including its acquisition by former parent BGC Partners in 2011, its 2017 initial public offering and its 2018 spinoff from BGC.
During his tenure, Newmark completed more than 55 acquisitions and expanded across service lines and geographies. The company recently reported record second-quarter revenue and extended double-digit year-over-year growth streaks across key businesses, including 11 consecutive quarters in capital markets, eight quarters in property management and servicing, and seven quarters in leasing.
Under Gosin, Newmark more than quadrupled its U.S. commercial and multifamily loan origination market share and more than doubled its U.S. investment sales market share over the past decade, according to the company.
He also spearheaded Newmark's push into Europe. The firm hired roughly 1,000 professionals in less than three years and generated about $300 million in revenue in the 12 months ended June 30, 2024, according to Newmark. The expansion included the acquisition of UK brokerage Gerald Eve in 2023.
Gosin has also dismissed concerns that artificial intelligence could weaken the brokerage industry, describing the technology as an "accelerant" that will improve productivity and profitability.
From New York broker to industry leader
Jeff Gural, chairman and principal of GFP Real Estate and Gosin's longtime friend and former business partner, recalled first noticing Gosin in the 1970s when the young broker was leasing space at Rudin's 41 Madison Ave.
Gural joked that Gosin was “stealing all our tenants at 230 Fifth Avenue,” a nearby building that the Gural family owns.
That rivalry eventually led to a partnership that Gural described as “the best thing that ever happened.”
“Barry really was the impetus for [Newmark's] expansion and the decision to go into buying industrial buildings and converting them to Class B office buildings,” Gural told CoStar News.
Gural's father, Aaron, acquired and built Newmark & Co. in the 1950s, which later evolved into two companies: GFP Real Estate, which owns and manages properties, and Newmark, a commercial real estate brokerage and leasing firm.
“Barry's a hard worker and he's driven to be successful,” Gural said. “That's what you need, from the day that I first met him. … He was driven to become a top broker, which he succeeded, and then when it became obvious that in order to compete with CBRE, Cushman Wakefield and JLL, that we needed to become the public company, Barry initiated the discussion with BGC. … I'm amazed that … Barry … grew [Newmark] into such a large company. I give him a lot of credit. I could have never done it.”
A Brooklyn native, Gosin has also been a prominent figure in New York's business and civic communities. In 2023, the Real Estate Board of New York honored him with its Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Leadership in Real Estate Award.
He serves on the executive committee of the Partnership for New York City board of directors and on the executive committee of REBNY's board of governors.
Succession questions
Analysts expect Newmark to name an internal successor.
Gosin “will continue doing what he loves — M&A, schmoozing clients, and helping brokers win business,” Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Goldfarb wrote in a note Friday.
“We are surprised a new CEO wasn't concurrently announced, but this absence doesn't diminish our view the most likely candidate is COO Luis Alvarado, who follows Barry's mold of being a broker's broker. We don't view it likely an external candidate comes in, given [Newmark’s] tight culture could prove tough for an outsider to lead from day one.”
Even though Cantor Fitzgerald controls a majority of Newmark's voting stock and owns 16.4% of its shares, Goldfarb said Alvarado, if chosen, is “cut from the same independence cloth as Barry.”
Howard Lutnick, Newmark's former executive chairman and Cantor Fitzgerald's longtime chief executive, stepped down from his executive and board positions in February 2025 after being confirmed as U.S. commerce secretary. He later transferred his ownership stake to trusts benefiting his four children as part of a government ethics agreement. One of those children, Kyle Lutnick, joined Newmark's board in 2025 and later became chief strategy officer.
“Culture matters,” Goldfarb said. Gosin built Newmark “into the emerging global platform by taking its hard-core New York competitive culture melded with a strong cross-selling approach where teamwork is rewarded. Barry has worked hard to dissuade brokers from keeping business to themselves, which is ever more important as the company expands its real estate management platform. Its growing presence in data centers is an example of this, whereby a few specialized brokers work with the broader platform collaborating with financing, government relations, power infrastructure, and local market teams.”
Newmark declined to comment beyond its statement.