Robinhood to Lay off 9% in Response to Downturn

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev announced that it was laying off approximately 9% of full-time employees.

As reported, throughout 2020 and H1 2021, Robinhood through a period of hyper growth accelerated by several factors including pandemic lockdowns, low interest rates, and fiscal stimulus. It grew net funded accounts from 5M to 22M and revenue from ~$278M in 2019 to over $1.8B in 2021. To meet customer and market demands, the stock-trading company grew its headcount almost 6X from 700 to nearly 3800 in that time period.

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

Besides, Robinhood will continue to accelerate its product momentum through 2022 and will introduce key new products across Brokerage, Crypto, and Spending/Saving. It will retain and continue to hire exceptional talent in key roles and provide additional learning and career growth opportunities for the employees. 

Robinhood's financial position remains strong with over $6B in cash on its balance sheet. To keep it that way it is anticipating and being responsive to changes in the way its customers invest-  especially during this time of global conflict, economic uncertainty, and high inflation. The company is also scrutinizing its headcount growth targets, and making sure that it continue to prioritize internal opportunities for automation and operational efficiency that serve its customers.  

For the departing employees, Robinhood will begin reaching out to each of them individually to discuss the next steps, including the support it will provide around separation packages, healthcare, and job search assistance.