On the heels of a $660 million Series G funding round last quarter, retail investing platform Robinhood has recently hinted that it might pursue an IPO as early as next year, although co-founder and co-CEO Vlad Tenev told Cheddar that he could not confirm a date.
"While I can't comment specifically on any timelines, I certainly recognize, and everyone at Robinhood recognizes, that it would be an interesting event for customers," he said.
In the meantime, Tenev noted that the company is well-capitalized and plans to continue refining its current offerings as well as develop new tools centered around financial literacy.
The company currently has 13 million approved accounts. Three million of those were funded in the first fourth months of the year, when COVID-related market fluctuations led to a surge in first-time investors flocking to retail platforms.
Robinhood has benefited mightily from this trend. The median age of its users is 31 and 50 percent are new investors.
While the platform has helped reshape retail investing with zero-commission fee trades — a standard other platforms have sinceadopted — its rise hasn't been without controversy.
Some have raised concerns about inexperienced traders experiencing burnout or mental health issues, though Tenev pushed back on the idea that Robinhood is stoking risky behavior.
"A lot of people equate first-time investors with investors that are more active," he said. "Really the behavior that we're seeing most people engage in with Robinhood is depositing money and buying stock and increasing the amount of stock they buy over time."
He added that the company is nonetheless working to improve the "quality and reliability" of the platform, which includes making it easier for investors to see their buying power in the interface.
That also includes some new bells and whistles such as fractional investing, which allows users to invest as little $1 toward a stock, and recurring investments, which allows users to schedule their activity on a daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis.
Other features in the works include educational content for newer traders. Robinhood's Learn page features in-depth content on stock-picking, markets, and even trading lingo.
That content has seen a 250 percent increase in visits, according to Tenev.
"We're really looking to make it easier for people to develop a long-term investing habit, and we see the bulk of our customers actually investing in that way rather than more active trading," he said.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
