Baiju Bhatt, the co-founder and chief creative officer of online stock trading firm Robinhood, has resigned from the company to “pursue other entrepreneurial interests”.
Bhatt will remain as a member of Robinhood’s board of directors. He also holds an 8% share of the company following its listing on the Nasdaq exchange in July 2021.
The US-based Robinhood launched in 2013 but it was during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 that the firm shot to prominence amid the explosion of interest in online trading.
The company was also associated with the meme stock trading craze led by the ‘short squeeze’ on the stock of video games retailer GameStop in early 2021.
Bhatt leaves at a busy time for the company. It finally launched in the UK earlier this months after three previous attempts.
And in 2023 it laid off 150 employees, equivalent to 7% of its workforce and also saw one of its investors, Google parent Alphabet, sell its stake in the company.
His fellow co-founder Vlad Tenev paid tribute to the departing Bhatt for his “piviotal role in opening access to the market for millions of new investors”.
Meanwhile Bhatt said: “I will have more to say about my next steps soon but know the future has never been so bright”.
