Robinhood (HOOD) said Tuesday it's letting go of about 290 employees, or about 10% of its workforce, in the coming weeks, according to a company spokesperson.
The move is intended to "maintain a high performance culture, further accelerate product velocity, and remain lean and disciplined," according to a regulatory filing signed by CFO Shiv Verma. Robinhood will incur $20 million in severance and restructuring charges, with $8 million in related share-based compensation payments.
In a memo posted on X, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev maintained that the financial and investing app has "never been stronger" and said that the goal of the reduction is "to maximize our talent density and ensure that our culture is defined by an absolute elite performance bar."
"To achieve the massive scale of our mission, we cannot default to operating as a heavily-layered organization," Tenev said. "We must be a lean, hyper-focused team where every single individual is empowered to make a massive impact," he added
Robinhood stock rose by more than 2% early on Tuesday. Its workforce reduction comes as competitors have also trimmed their headcount in recent months and as the widely popular retail trading platform looks to monetize a number of this year's biggest attention-grabbing events.