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Retail Traders Flee Robinhood Markets

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By Travis Wolfe @ Shutterstock.com

Online brokerage platform Robinhood Markets has reported a decline in users of 34% from the previous year. In response to the slowdown in business, Robinhood has fired 23% of its workforce. The Wall Street Journal reports:

Robinhood Markets Inc. is slashing about 23% of its full-time staff as the flashy online brokerage continues to reel from a sharp slowdown in customer trading activity.

The job cuts mark the second round of layoffs this year at Robinhood, which in April reduced its staff by about 9%. Together, the two rounds have cut more than 1,000 jobs from the company.

The layoffs come alongside a broader company reorganization, Vlad Tenev, Robinhood’s chief executive, said in a message posted to the company’s blog. In the statement, Mr. Tenev said the previous round of layoffs in April “did not go far enough” in helping the company cut costs.

“Last year, we staffed many of our operations functions under the assumption that the heightened retail engagement we had been seeing with the stock and crypto markets in the Covid era would persist into 2022,” Mr. Tenev said in the message. “In this new environment, we are operating with more staffing than appropriate. As CEO, I approved and took responsibility for our ambitious staffing trajectory—this is on me.”

Robinhood also moved up the release of its second-quarter results a day earlier than scheduled, reporting its monthly active users tumbled to 14 million, down 34% from a year earlier. Revenue fell 44% to $318 million.

Launched less than a decade ago, Robinhood ushered in a free-stock trading phenomenon during the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to its easy-to-use, mobile-first online brokerage platform.

By the second quarter of last year—Robinhood’s best, according to public filings—the company boasted more than 21 million active users, who flocked to the app to trade flashy meme stocks, options and cryptocurrencies.

But the pandemic-darling has seen its fortunes unwind this year as markets have tumbled and customers are no longer stuck at home like they were during the Covid-19 pandemic. Revenue tied to customers’ trading activity dropped 55% in the latest quarter to $202 million.

In response to its decline in users, Robinhood reduced staff, leaving the rest of its userbase relying on diminished service capacity. That’s what happens to “users.”

Action Line: You want to be more than a “user” to the people helping you invest your money. “Users,” are people who post memes. “Users” are people who get a rideshare service home from the bar. “Users” are people who change their fantasy sports lineups. There’s nothing wrong with being a user, but when it comes to investing your hard-earned money in the hopes of a healthy, fun, and relaxing retirement for you and your family, you want to be more than a user. You want to be a valued client, to someone who has a fiduciary duty to put your interests first. If you need help becoming more than a “user,” I would love to talk with you.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.