Robinhood shares begin trading on Nasdaq; valuation around $32 billion
On Thursday, July 29, the stock- and cryptocurrency-trading app Robinhood conducted its initial public offering on the Nasdaq.
The official listing ceremony took place shortly before trading began.
⚡ Power comes through participation.
Today, we celebrate @RobinhoodApp, creating products built for everyone and empowering users to invest at their own pace.
It’s an exciting day at @Nasdaq with @vladtenev, Baiju Bhatt and the $HOOD team. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/dmbfrX68V7
— Nasdaq (@Nasdaq) July 29, 2021
On the eve, the company set the starting price of trading for HOOD shares at $38 and a market valuation of about $32 billion.
Trading closed at $34.82. Market capitalisation fell to about $29 billion.
Robinhood offered investors 55 million Class A shares. According to Bloomberg, co-founders Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt officially became billionaires with fortunes of $2.4 billion and $2.8 billion respectively.
Trading at the start of the session nudged higher.
In the first 15 minutes of trading, HOOD shares fell more than 10% to around $34.
During the first hour of trading, Robinhood’s share price slumped to below $34 and then nearly recovered to the opening level.
Robinhood filed for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in early July.
According to media reports, the company planned to list earlier, but delayed the offering due to the SEC’s review of its cryptocurrency business.
As part of preparation for the IPO, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev described digital assets as the cornerstone of the company’s future development.
In the first three months of the year the number of users of the company’s mobile app for trading digital assets increased from 1.7 million to 9.5 million.
In March, Tenev announced the addition of a crypto wallet to the service. According to media reports, the move will provide access to assets and DeFi services.
In May, Chief Operating Officer Christine Brown, who heads the cryptocurrency unit of the company, said that in the app the ability to withdraw digital assets to external wallets would appear.
Recall that media reports indicated that Robinhood is developing tools to protect users from cryptocurrency market volatility.
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