Earlier quoted context omitted.
the market is the most efficient place you can put your money, and the companies that underlie the market are the greatest stores of value with the best growth opportunities we know of, and the pandemic didn't change that. Dying to hear where else you suggest putting investments...?
If one believes the current market is bogus, then it is quite possible to move money into hard/sticky assets. Real estate is the prime example of this, as it’s in everyone’s interest that real estate not crash too hard. Similarly bonds Big question to ask if you are betting the market is bogus is whether the market will stay bogus while your “safe” asset stays flat.
Robinhood lays off 23% of staff
491–500 of 717 posts
Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff
#492Somehow I feel that all these VC backed firms just add employees for the sake of adding employees. I use Tastyworks - another free online brokerage that it almost at feature parity with Robinhood. They have stocks, options, futures and even some selective crypto. They also make money using PFOF just like Robinhood. However on Linkedin, their employee count is less than 100 (99 to be precise) On the other hand, Robinh…
>"They also make money using PFOF just like Robinhood." What is "PFOF" here?
Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff
#493So several times I've had the opportunity to join fast growing startups that offered quite a bit more compensation, and equity as well. One of the things that I always took consideration of was the stability of the company vs where I was at. Many of these people made a bet that working for Robinhood would pay off, it didn't that is part of the risk that came with the SV salaries, and the stock. I get that it sucks, b…
Oracle is also doing layoffs today and would somewhat be in the stable class. It’s just like nature it just is. Think the thing to do is just take Larry Ellisons advice and GTFM.
Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff
#494Earlier quoted context omitted.
>just because it's supposedly free (even though you pay for it in the fills, and get frontrunning trades) Can you provide a source for this? Citadel (one of the companies robinhood sells order flow to) claims in regulatory filings[1] that the overwhelming majority of orders are executed at market price or better, and that they on average save traders money. [1] https://s3.amazonaws.com/citadel-wordpress-prd101/wp-con…
Wha the point of paying for order flow if you "execute at market price or better"? Are you suggesting Citadel is a charity?
Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff
#495Earlier quoted context omitted.
Imagine if I was visiting Laos and told someone I met in the countryside that I spent, say $2,000 on a racing bicycle -- which would be considered "normal" in bike racing culture in many parts of the US. Imagine what that person would think! My central point is this: People are quick to "normalize" their behavior relative to their perceived peer group. So, yes, multinational CEO compensation is hard to comprehend. (I…
At my company (non-tech), all leadership compensation is paid based on percentages hit over the next five years. Your first year, you’re only getting 20% off the position’s salary, and 80% goes to your predecessors. When you retire, 20% of your salary got the previous four years is based on how well the company does the year after you leave. It strongly incentivizes healthy transitions and long-term plans.
Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff
#496The truth is that a majority of tech companies don't need 50%+ of their employees. Google could lay off vast swathes tomorrow and be immensely more profitable without any loss in revenue. The 2010s will be remembered as the golden era for tech employment. The second we start getting industry wide layoffs, the insanely high wage inflation we've seen will kick into reverse much faster than you probably believe possible…
> Yet tech is such a small portion of the labor force that layoffs here basically mean zilch when it comes to the unemployment rate/inflation, and thus there's a long way for it to fall before the Fed adjusts policy The really scary thing for me is the possible macro environment for tech. Indians will soon overtake any of the Western countries as the largest English-speaking population on the internet. As I'm sure ma…
Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff
#497A lot of Robin Hood's growth in particular was driven by people gambling their stimulus money because they didn't need it to make ends meet, and by the Fed juicing the markets with low rates for far too long, and by the ridiculous meme stock phenomenon. It was a perfect storm of stupidity. Personally I'm glad that some sanity is returning to investing, and we are still a long way from getting back to normal.
The hardest part of this to me to deal with is that it’s the truth. For decades, the conservative line was if you give people money they’ll just blow it on gambling and booze. Turns out it’s true.
Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff
#498Earlier quoted context omitted.
In general the non-engineers at tech companies get treated pretty well and I don't think they are more likely to get laid off than they are at other companies. They also generally get the same kind of RSUs/options/stock comp as anyone else at the company: those are not normally restricted to engineers, although engineers often get more compensation than others. Marketing, advertising and sales people are especially v…
We honestly aren't treated better, and as you point out, are usually the first out the door. This has been my experience as a marketer over the last 16+ years. So, so many of my compatriots let go in these lean times (and often not backfilled), leaving those left behind to do 2-3X more work and get the ol "you're lucky to have a job!" speech. I've been laid off twice in my career, despite being considered a high-perf…
Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff
#499Earlier quoted context omitted.
I used to work at a real time brokerage + national bank based out of the Midwest. The entire engineering+ operations team was 128 people, exactly. Including the CIO and his assistant who ruled the 39th floor with an iron fist, a hold over from the dot com era. They're publicly traded. I think they're down to 90 people but still running a functional company with tens of thousands of broker dealers. I have no idea how…
>Including the CIO and his assistant who ruled the 39th floor with an iron fist, a hold over from the dot com era. Please explain? Is ruling the 39th floor a particularly [financial] in-joke?
A listing in The Urban Dictionary defines/describes it as: When an idea, movement or act has become very successful. To be propelled to great heights. [1]
FWIW, there's a band called The 39th Floor [2] that I like for its grungy/retro-ish rock. The band's name evokes, for me, the image of "high-powered execs", but I'm not sure how that association got into my head. (Possibly the track Koka Kola on The Clash's album London Calling [3], but that refers to a "51st floor", rather than 39th, to symbolise corporate success/power [4].)
[1] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=39th%20floor
[2] https://the39thfloor.bandcamp.com/
Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff
#500The truth is that a majority of tech companies don't need 50%+ of their employees. Google could lay off vast swathes tomorrow and be immensely more profitable without any loss in revenue. The 2010s will be remembered as the golden era for tech employment. The second we start getting industry wide layoffs, the insanely high wage inflation we've seen will kick into reverse much faster than you probably believe possible…
> Yet tech is such a small portion of the labor force that layoffs here basically mean zilch when it comes to the unemployment rate/inflation, and thus there's a long way for it to fall before the Fed adjusts policy The really scary thing for me is the possible macro environment for tech. Indians will soon overtake any of the Western countries as the largest English-speaking population on the internet. As I'm sure ma…
> You've never worked a job that isn't 30 minutes of work and then the rest of the day is posting "day in the life of a FAANG employee" Tiktoks or being a paid activist.
That is incredibly not what it's like to work in tech in the US. I doubt you've been anywhere near a big tech programming job.