Number of the Week: $2.1 billion (explanation below)
Is Robinhood Trying to Grow Up?
Robinhood’s performance as a public company has been less than stellar. The company went public in late July at an opening price of about $35 a share, and as of Friday’s market close the stock was below $16.
There are multiple reasons for that decline; after all, the second half of 2021 was unkind to many publicly traded fintech companies. But surely some of the crappy performance is specific to Robinhood. Investors seem increasingly aware that the unprofitable Robinhood—which jolted the brokerage world a few years ago by introducing commission-free trades—no longer has much that is unique to offer its existing and potential customers.