Robinhood Markets, the free stock-trading platform that boomed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, has closed its Tempe office.
The closure comes after an announcement from Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on Aug. 2. He said the company would be reducing its workforce by 23%.
“While employees from all functions will be impacted, the changes are particularly concentrated in our operations, marketing, and program management functions,” Tenev wrote in his blog post.
Earlier in 2022, the CEO had said the workforce would be cut by 9%, just one year after its public offering. That was not enough, according to Tenev, and Robinhood currently has more staff than is needed to function.
“Since that time, we have seen additional deterioration of the macro environment, with inflation at 40-year highs accompanied by a broad crypto market crash,” he wrote. “This has further reduced customer trading activity and assets under custody.”
Employees were informed of their employment status over Slack, according to the blog post. Departing staffers were offered the opportunity to remain employed through Oct. 1, and receive their regular pay and benefits. They were also offered cash severance, payment of COBRA medical, dental and vision insurance premiums and job search assistance.
A North Carolina office was also shuttered.
Based in Menlo Park, California, Robinhood initially announced its Tempe office in August 2020. The Phoenix-area headquarters was based at The Watermark in Tempe.
A spokesperson for Cushman & Wakefield, which has leased The Watermark, said the company could not comment.
Lindsay is a Phoenix native and is thrilled to be reporting in her hometown.
After spending several years in advertising after college, she switched gears and graduated with her master’s degree in journalism at Arizona State University in 2019.
When she’s not writing, you can usually find her reading a book or playing with her family’s dogs.
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