A facile and efficient approach is developed for the synthesis of fluorene and its derivatives starting from 2-iodobiphenyls and CH<sub>2sub>Br<sub>2sub>. A range of fluorene derivatives can be synthesized under relatively mild conditions. The reaction proceeds via a tandem palladium-catalyzed dual C–C bond formation sequence through the key dibenzopalladacyclopentadiene intermediates, which are obtained from 2-iodobiphenyls through palladium-catalyzed C–H activation.