Robinhood Cuts 290 Jobs Amid Crypto Trading Slump

Retail trading platform Robinhood (HOOD) plans to let go of about 10% of its workforce, roughly 290 employees, in an effort to become leaner and more efficient. According to a company spokesperson, the move is intended to maintain a high-performance culture, accelerate product velocity, and remain disciplined.

In a regulatory filing signed by CFO Shiv Verma, Robinhood will incur $20 million in severance and restructuring charges, with $8 million in related share-based compensation payments. The company's CEO, Vlad Tenev, stated that the goal of the reduction is 'to maximize our talent density and ensure that our culture is defined by an absolute elite performance bar.'

Roninhood has been experiencing a slump in crypto trading activity compared to last year, which contributed to missing first-quarter revenue estimates from analysts. The company's stock is down 13% since the beginning of January.

The workforce reduction comes as competitors have also trimmed their headcount in recent months. Last Friday, Robinhood experienced 'record-breaking traffic' due to issues with SpaceX's colossal IPO, which affected about 5,000 customers.