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Robinhood has recently hired a chief financial officer (CFO), Jason Warnick. The addition of Warnick is to help helm the eventual debut of the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in 2019.
Robinhood hired Warnick, a 20-year veteran from Amazon as the final step before going public. Chief executive officer (CEO), Vlad Tenev, praised their new hire.
‘We’re incredibly lucky to have Jason join our leadership team. We look forward to working with Jason to build out our operational and financial infrastructure and continuing to deliver the best possible financial products to our customers at the best possible prices,’ said Tenev.
Robinhood brings investing to millennials
The fintech company has been a disrupter in the brokerage space. The trading app for new traders was started by Tenev and Baiju Bhatt in 2013. Robinhood has attracted young investors with its policy of zero fees and easy mobile access while trading shares of corporations and cryptocurrency. While there’s no charge for basic services, the corporation makes money by charging for extra services, like buying stocks on margin. The startup has six million customers, many of them between the ages of 18 and 35.
Because of the devoted millennial customer base, Robinhood has been valued at $5.6 billion ahead of its IPO launch next year. Despite the high valuation, the brokerage company has come under fire for its policies.
Controversy over Robinhood
The stock trading startup has come under fire for its investment model. Critics say that Robinhood doesn’t offer safer, long-term options like bonds and mutual funds. Reviewers of the app also note that the focus on individual stocks causes customers to make rash decisions and sell their shares too quickly.
There is also the more serious charge of the company selling data to other trading firms. Tenev denies that this is an illegal practice.
‘No customer data is being sold. We use market makers to execute customers’ transactions. So they’re executing the transactions, which is very, very different than actually selling customer data, ‘ said Telev.
Robinhood outlook for 2019
The trading app hopes that the hire of Warnick will be the final step before launching its IPO to help traders make the most of trading on Wall Street.
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