Robinhood Cuts 23% of Staff

Robinhood Markets Inc. is eliminating almost a quarter of its workforce and shuttering offices after a punishing first year as a public company.

The app-based brokerage dismissed 780 people, or about 23% of staff, and also announced the departure of a top executive Tuesday. Reductions were concentrated in operations, marketing and program management functions, Chief Executive Officer Vlad Tenev said in a statement.

A pandemic trading boom — including the meme-stock frenzy that drove up shares of GameStop Corp. and others — fueled the firm’s drive to an initial public offering in July 2021. The business quickly slumped, with monthly active users on its app declining and shares cratering.

“I anticipated that what we saw in 2020 and 2021 in terms of market conditions would last longer than it turned out to last, and so that’s on me,” Tenev, 35, said in a conference call with journalists. “The reality of it was we over-hired, in particular in some of these support functions.”

The move, which follows an earlier headcount reduction in April when Robinhood eliminated about 9% of its staff, brings the total number of employees dismissed this year to more than 1,000.

In a separate filing Tuesday, Robinhood said Chief Product Officer Aparna Chennapragada is leaving the company and that it will close two offices.