Robinhood is dismissing 9% of its full-time staff, after the online brokerage’s “hyper growth” cooled.
The firm went through a period of rapid hiring as it expanded in 2020 and the first half of 2021, leading to “some duplicate roles and job functions, and more layers and complexity than are optimal,” Chief Executive Officer Vlad Tenev said Tuesday in a statement. The company had about 3,800 full-time employees at year-end.
Robinhood exploded in popularity during the pandemic, as new investors used its app to trade through market swings and run-ups in meme stocks and cryptocurrencies. But trading activity, which makes up the bulk of Robinhood’s revenue, has started to wane.
Shares of the Menlo Park, California-based company dropped 5.3% to $9.47 in extended trading at 4:54 p.m. in New York. The stock had tumbled 74% since its July initial public offering.
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