Robinhood co-founder steps down
Robinhood co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Baiju Bhatt is leaving the firm to focus on his “next enterprise.”
Bhatt announced his departure Thursday, reflecting on his 11 years with the online brokerage company and noting that he will have “a lot more to say soon.” He will remain on Robinhood’s board of directors.
“I co-founded Robinhood because I believed we could change our financial system for the better. Robinhood was the seed of an idea — born from the Occupy Wall Street movement and inspired by the ideals of democratizing finance for all,” Bhatt said Thursday in a post on social media site X. “For almost a decade, I served as co-CEO and helped grow and transform Robinhood from an idea into a movement — one with millions of customers all across America and hundreds of employees.”
“During my tenure as Chief Creative Officer, I worked with teams of incredible builders to bring products like Robinhood Retirement to life,” he wrote. “It has been an honor and a privilege to work with some of the most innovative and creative thinkers in the industry.”
Bhatt’s exit comes just after Menlo Park, California-based Robinhood’s official international launch. Robinhood UK went live for all users last week.
“[Bhatt’s] passion for entrepreneurship and commitment to our mission to democratize finance for all helped build Robinhood from a seed of an idea to the global public company it is today,” said CEO Vlad Tenev, who co-founded Robinhood with Bhatt, in a prepared statement.
“Baiju played a pivotal role in opening access to the markets for millions of new investors, and I am grateful for all of his contributions to Robinhood over the last decade,” Tenev said.
The trading app officially launched in 2014 and had amassed 10 million users five years later.
In 2021, it was the epicenter of a “meme stock craze” where social media and Reddit activity drove certain stocks into peaks and crashes — most notably a record high above $500 per share for video game retailer GameStop, valued earlier in the same month under $40.
Pushed to its limits, Robinhood restricted trading on stocks caught up in the craze, and investors then sued the firm with claims that they lost money due to Robinhood’s restrictions. A federal judge dismissed the case last year.
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