Robinhood cutting 9% of full-time employees

Robinhood's CEO announced Tuesday that the company is cutting about 9% of full-time employees after several years of rapid growth.

Driving the news: "This rapid headcount growth has led to some duplicate roles and job functions, and more layers and complexity than are optimal," the company's CEO Vlad Tenev wrote in a blogpost.

• "After carefully considering all these factors, we determined that making these reductions to Robinhood’s staff is the right decision to improve efficiency, increase our velocity, and ensure that we are responsive to the changing needs of our customers," wrote Tenev.
• Shares of the trading platform fell more than 4% in extended trading on Tuesday, according to CNBC.

The big picture: The cuts come as Robinhood users have started to leave the platform and share-based compensation costs grew to nearly $1.6 billion in 2021, up from $24 million in 2020. In a bid to retain new employees, the company also offered more equity as its stock price fell.

• Robinhood reported about 3,800 full-time employees as of Dec. 31, per CNBC.
• "We determined that making these reductions to Robinhood’s staff is the right decision to improve efficiency, increase our velocity, and ensure that we are responsive to the changing needs of our customers," Tenev wrote.

What to watch: Robinhood is scheduled to release its first-quarter results on Thursday.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with new details throughout.