Robinhood doesn’t expect to close its $300 million acquisition of wealth management platform TradePMR until next year—part of an effort to supercharge growth by expanding into an entirely new business. But Robinhood is already starting to roll out plans for combining the two workforces.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Robinhood presented offer letters to TradePMR’s approximately 200 employees—giving them until the end of day on Friday to accept their new contracts, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. Only two of TradePMR’s employees—its building maintenance team—didn’t get offers to join the beefed up fintech, according to one of the people.
Robinhood and TradePMR haven’t explained what will happen to employees who don’t accept their offers, according to three of the sources. “The understanding is that you’ll be terminated” if you don’t accept, one current employee said. Some TradePMR employees have already declined to join Robinhood and tendered their resignation, another person said, although Coins2Day was unable to verify how many.
Robinhood and TradePMR declined to comment on the record.
Employees had been told the job offers were coming for a couple of weeks. Then on Monday Robinhood sent a formal internal message to TradePMR’s employees about the offers, followed by an all-employee meeting on Tuesday to go over Robinhood’s health plan and other benefits, according to two current employees. Meetings to review details like equity packages came after, the employees said. Later, on Tuesday and Wednesday, employees discussed their individual offer letters in one-on-one meetings, then were given until the end of the week to make a decision.
Offers with tight deadlines such as those from Robinhood are referred to within HR circles as “exploding offers” and are typically used to pressure prospective employees into accepting quickly. It’s a fast turnaround for employees to decide, particularly because the pay packages are structured differently from what they’re accustomed to. Robinhood offers bonuses and equity, determined by individual and company performance, as part of its compensation plans. TradePMR employees, in contrast, are generally paid entirely via a salary or hourly pay. One employee said the latest offers created a lot of pressure, especially during the holiday season, because they had to make a decision in a few days.
However, there is little downside for TradePMR employees who sign the contracts—as there is no language barring an employee from signing, then quitting Robinhood later, according to someone with knowledge of the matter. No employees have asked HR for an extension to make a decision, that person said.
One employee is optimistic about accepting the proposed contract, citing what they described as Robinhood’s better health care and family planning benefits. “They offer a lot of stuff that I’ve never been offered before—because I’ve never worked at a Silicon Valley company,” one employee said, noting that they plan to accept the offer and think they will ultimately make more money.
Robinhood is based in Menlo Park, Calif., while TradePMR has offices in Clearwater and Gainesville, Fla.
The TradePMR acquisition, which Robinhood announced in November, is expected to close in the first half of 2025. The deal would expand Robinhood from its retail trading roots into wealth management, including servicing financial advisors who manage the investments of wealthy individuals for fees. TradePMR is known as a custodian, used by financial advisors to help manage their client accounts and portfolios and handle transfers and trades. With recent corporate consolidation, there are only a few custodians in the wealth management industry, and TradePMR services some 350 financial advisory firms.
Robinhood’s revenue has been growing steadily over the past year—at $637 million in the quarter ended September 2024, up from $467 million in the year-ago period. While Robinhood has previously acquired companies including Say Technologies and X1, TradePMR would be its largest acquisition to date when the deal closes.
However, Robinhood has a lot of work ahead to woo TradePMR’s clients, as many financial advisors have long been critical of Robinhood’s business model. Critics say it incentivizes the kind of frequent, risky trading that they spend so much of their time encouraging clients to avoid.
But, as of now, Robinhood is trying to get TradePMR employees on board. In late November, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev and TradePMR CEO Robb Baldwin hosted a Zoom call with staff, one employee recalled, in which they outlined Robinhood’s plans for the acquisition and how they will refer Robinhood customers to investment advisory firms that keep assets with TradePMR.
“It was obviously a big shock when we found out about it,” one employee said. “I’m slowly getting more excited about it.”