HOT SEAT Vlad Tenev

摘要

This could be a spectacular year for Robinhood Markets Inc.'s chief executive officer. The zero-commission online brokerage he started with Baiju Bhatt helped ignite a retail trading boom, and an initial public offering is widely anticipated. The company is considering selling some of its shares directly to its users. But Robinhood's name has become shorthand for everything worrisome about this market: an influx of inexperienced investors, lots of trading, and more risk-taking. Other brokers have embraced Robinhood's free-trades model, but its fast growth and mission to "democratize finance" keep the company in the spotlight. Tenev, who was named sole CEO in November, has vowed to address technical glitches that have frustrated some users. Robinhood says it tripled the size of its customer support team in 2020 and invested in making its systems more resilient. The company also faces criticism for making trading on its phone app feel too much like a game. That's the subject of a complaint by Massachusetts regulators, who point to one novice who made 12,700 trades in about six months. The company says it disagrees with the complaint's allegations and plans to defend itself.