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Robinhood lays off 23% of staff

wsj.com

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Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff

#201

Post by maronato »

fleddr wrote: post #85

We live in such morally bankrupt times. You can just say "you take responsibility" without actually taking responsibility at all. Our expectations have become so low and we've become so complacent that just the statement is enough. In similar vain, "we care about your mental health" as is the common internal email from HR. No actual care is offered though. Giving staff a day off is a tangible example of doing at leas…

I don’t think humanity has ever not been morally bankrupt. Politics has always been immoral. Industrialism has always been immoral. Slavery was commonplace. We used to have feudalism and nobility.

Morals are only applicable to those who have no choice and power to choose otherwise.

Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff

#202

Post by Closi »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #189
paxys wrote: post #29

> As CEO, I approved and took responsibility for our ambitious staffing trajectory—this is on me Reminder that Vlad Tenev received $800M in compensation in 2021. In the same year the company made terrible bets on crypto and banking, took an irreversible reputation hit among its core user base because of the GME fiasco, had multiple user data breaches, was subject to several investigations and was fined hundreds of mi…

An article I read on HN talked about the difference between being nice (saying something to appease someone) vs. kind (doing something that benefits another person). It mentioned on the NYC Subway you will see a guy help with a mother's pram but not say a word. No small talk. No smile. They are kind but not nice. Assuming the above definition, I would say this CEO is "nice" but not "kind".

Since when did giving millions to some bankers being laid off become the signal of being kind?

They are getting severance packages with two months of further employment, and while that is not ideal for them at the individual level, I don't see why they need charity any more than anyone else.

Being kind would actually be donating the money for truly charitable purposes to help the poorest.

Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff

#203

Post by throwfh80h82 »

fleddr wrote: post #85

We live in such morally bankrupt times. You can just say "you take responsibility" without actually taking responsibility at all. Our expectations have become so low and we've become so complacent that just the statement is enough. In similar vain, "we care about your mental health" as is the common internal email from HR. No actual care is offered though. Giving staff a day off is a tangible example of doing at leas…

The problem is moer that we can't do anything about it. It's not enough.

Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff

#204

Post by paxys »

jmyeet wrote: post #137
paxys wrote: post #29

> As CEO, I approved and took responsibility for our ambitious staffing trajectory—this is on me Reminder that Vlad Tenev received $800M in compensation in 2021. In the same year the company made terrible bets on crypto and banking, took an irreversible reputation hit among its core user base because of the GME fiasco, had multiple user data breaches, was subject to several investigations and was fined hundreds of mi…

> ... took an irreversible reputation hit among its core user base because of the GME fiasco God I'm so sick of hearing this. It comes from people who seriously don't know what happened. let me explain: RH had (and still has) a service that you can trade immediately on signing up and sending funds rather than waiting for them to clear. This mostly works out fine because people buy different things and you have the un…

Pretty much everything you wrote is incorrect. You are describing margin lending, which had nothing to do with the issue. Robinhood instead blocked trading even for fully funded accounts. The problem wasn't the money that Robinhood lent you, but rather the fact that they themselves didn't have enough collateral to get cleared for the increased risk posed by these stocks. They were posing as a first-class brokerage without having the financial backing for it.

Moreover, the issue brought their business model into public spotlight, and people realized the problems with making money by selling order flows and the conflicts of interest that came with it.

Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff

#205

Post by somewhereoutth »

paxys wrote: post #29

> As CEO, I approved and took responsibility for our ambitious staffing trajectory—this is on me Reminder that Vlad Tenev received $800M in compensation in 2021. In the same year the company made terrible bets on crypto and banking, took an irreversible reputation hit among its core user base because of the GME fiasco, had multiple user data breaches, was subject to several investigations and was fined hundreds of mi…

This is why we need wealth taxes. Confiscate the lot.

Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff

#206

Post by spywaregorilla »

nerdponx wrote: post #130
jrochkind1 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realize it's not something that happens, but I would say "taking responsibility" would mean taking, oh, I dunno, $50M of that $800M in compensation in 2021, and distributing it to those laid off? (How the hell is your life different with $750M instead of $800M anyway?)

The article said it was around 1000 employees. So cutting his pay by $50m would mean $50k per laid-off employee . How as an investor or shareholder can you not look at this as downright robbery?

That would be his money, not the shareholders

Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff

#207

Post by misiti3780 »

paxys wrote: post #29

> As CEO, I approved and took responsibility for our ambitious staffing trajectory—this is on me Reminder that Vlad Tenev received $800M in compensation in 2021. In the same year the company made terrible bets on crypto and banking, took an irreversible reputation hit among its core user base because of the GME fiasco, had multiple user data breaches, was subject to several investigations and was fined hundreds of mi…

Ya, the board and the VCs didnt care about that at the time.

Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff

#208

Post by adambyrtek »

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #194
adambyrtek wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you say the same about Travis Kalanick or Adam Neumann?

I would say that Kalanick and Neumann's mistakes were quite a bit worse than overhiring.

Sure, what I meant is that founder CEOs are not as irreplaceable as it might seem.

Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff

#209

Post by notahacker »

jmyeet wrote: post #137
paxys wrote: post #29

> As CEO, I approved and took responsibility for our ambitious staffing trajectory—this is on me Reminder that Vlad Tenev received $800M in compensation in 2021. In the same year the company made terrible bets on crypto and banking, took an irreversible reputation hit among its core user base because of the GME fiasco, had multiple user data breaches, was subject to several investigations and was fined hundreds of mi…

> ... took an irreversible reputation hit among its core user base because of the GME fiasco God I'm so sick of hearing this. It comes from people who seriously don't know what happened. let me explain: RH had (and still has) a service that you can trade immediately on signing up and sending funds rather than waiting for them to clear. This mostly works out fine because people buy different things and you have the un…

This may be true. But it's also true that Robinhood's business model took a massive reputation hit amongst its core user base as a result of this.

Some people were utterly delusional about what was going to happen with GME, but Robinhood's business model was based around providing low friction trades to the sort of consumer who makes casual trades based on what they hear on the internet: i.e. exactly the person most likely to be delusional about GME and likely to subscribe to someone else's theory it was all their broker's fault really. Even the name is a nod to the delusion trading stocks is a place for poor amateurs to fleece deep-pocketed professionals and not the other way round!

Re: Robinhood lays off 23% of staff

#210

Post by nathanvanfleet »

manquer wrote: post #87
jrochkind1 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realize it's not something that happens, but I would say "taking responsibility" would mean taking, oh, I dunno, $50M of that $800M in compensation in 2021, and distributing it to those laid off? (How the hell is your life different with $750M instead of $800M anyway?)

The rich don’t see it that way. At its core wealth accumulation is a scoring contest so every penny counts for those care. Also if you have all the material needs that is satisfied, then you go after the rare hard to get high value exclusive money drain this is human nature. For your specific example what that 50m might make difference it maybe a bigger jet that flies further or a second jet for the family or a yatch…

I agree with you but there is also the dynamic that there is always other richer people than you with richer lifestyles. So while you might think that one jet is enough for you if you had friends who didn't own a jet. When all your friends own 3 jets it makes you feel like you should also own 3 or whatever random expense you can imagine.

And while you say "human nature" I'd rather say it's "human illness." They someone are within a strata of society where there is no limit, a 20 minute private jet flight or a $20,000 meal is not out of the question and is in fact the norm.

They buy a fully renovated house for $10 million but then gut it to renovate it to "their tastes" and then live in it for two weeks of the year. There's just not culture to tell them it's excessive.

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