The Silicon Valley-based online trading platform Robinhood has laid off 23 percent of its workforce. This comes just three months after the fintech platform had reduced its headcount by 9% amid global economic turmoil. According to sources, a 23% reduction would mean that 713 employees were laid off and nearly 2,400 people are left at the company.
Vlad Tenev, Robinhood CEO, and co-founder, stated in a blog post that all employees would be affected and that the layoffs were "especially concentrated in the operations, marketing, and programme management functions."As part a broader company reorganisation, I just announced we are reducing the headcount by approximately 23%," Tenev stated recently.
"In this new environment we are operating with more personnel than necessary. Tenev noted that as CEO, I approved and assumed responsibility for our ambitious staffing path -- this is on my shoulders." Tenev said that the previous round of layoffs did not go far enough. Robinhood also reported its second quarter results. It reported net revenue of $318 millions on a loss of $295million.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Robinhood was fined $30 Million by a New York financial regulator. This is primarily for its cryptocurrency trading arms. Tenev stated that the company has experienced further deterioration in the macro environment since the 9 percent layoff. Inflation is at its highest level for 40 years, and there has been a wide crypto market crash. He said, "This has further reduced customer trade activity and assets under custody."