Robinhood Hires Veteran Amazon Executive on Path to IPO

By Megha Shah - Last Updated on April 1, 2019
Robinhood Hires Veteran Amazon Executive on Path to IPO

Zero-fee stock trading app and cryptocurrency exchange Robinhood just announced the appointment of Amazon veteran Jason Warnick as its first ever Chief Financial Officer. The stock-trading platform is preparing for its IPO next year, and Warnick’s appointment is a step in the direction.

Being a public company “closely aligns” with Robinhood’s mission and is something its executives think “is very much in the future,” Robinhood co-CEO Baiju Bhatt said on stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco. He said an IPO would not be in the immediate future but it’s “something we’re thinking about.”

An Amazon veteran for almost two decades, Warnick joined Amazon in 1999 and donned many hats inside the Seattle based company’s finance departments, with positions touching operations, internal audit, investor relations, and risk management. He was most recently serving as Vice President of Finance and Chief of Staff to the e-commerce giant’s CFO Brian Olsavsky.

“I’m thrilled to join the amazing team at Robinhood and look forward to advancing our mission to democratize America’s financial system,” Warnick, who starts at Robinhood this week, said in a blog post.

Robinhood’s brokerage account growth has skyrocketed this year: Total accounts jumped to 6 million in October, up from 5 million in August and 4 million in May, according to the company. Its latest fundraising round raised $363 million and saw participation from Google’s venture capital fund Capital G, Sequoia, DST Global and Iconiq, boosting its valuation to $5.6 billion.

“We have an ambitious long-term vision to become a full-service financial services company over the next couple of years,” Robinhood Co-CEO Vlad Tenev told CNBC in August.

“We’re incredibly lucky to have Jason join our leadership team,” Tenev said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Jason to build out our operational and financial infrastructure and continuing to deliver the best possible financial products to our customers at the best possible prices.”

Megha Shah | A dreamer, traveler, aspiring entrepreneur and a bookworm beyond repair, Megha Shah is extremely fond of writing and has been doing so since she was a child. Apart from being a part-time writer, Megha is currently in college, pursuing B. Com. (Hons). Megha is an ardent follower of ‘Hardship, Hustle and Heart’ and firmly believes in the power of hard work and destiny!

Megha Shah | A dreamer, traveler, aspiring entrepreneur and a bookworm beyond repair, Megha Shah is extremely fond of writing and has been doing so since she wa...

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