Robinhood Announces Layoffs After Hypergrowth Period

Stock trading platform Robinhood announced plans this week to cut about 9 percent of its workforce.

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In a blog post, CEO Vlad Tenev said layoffs are necessary after the company went through a period of fast growth in 2020 and 2021. Robinhood grew its net funded accounts from 5 million to 22 million and revenue from around $278 million in 2019 to more than $1.8 billion in 2021. During that time, the company also grew its headcount from around 700 employees to nearly 3,800.

“This rapid headcount growth has led to some duplicate roles and job functions, and more layers and complexity than are optimal,” Tenev wrote. “After carefully considering all these factors, we determined that making these reductions to Robinhood’s staff is the right decision to improve efficiency, increase our velocity, and ensure that we are responsive to the changing needs of our customers.”

Menlo Park-based Robinhood’s growth came amid a boom in retail trading during the pandemic, while interest rates were low and the stock market reached record highs.

The company, which was founded in 2013, went public last year and raised $2.1 billion through its IPO, reaching a $32 billion valuation.

News of the company’s layoffs come during a time when tech stocks in particular have been hit hard. Robinhood’s stock price is down nearly 49 percent since the beginning of the year.

Illustration: Dom Guzman