US financial services company Robinhood makes Wall Street debut

American financial services company Robinhood has made its debut on Wall Street and will begin trading Thursday. Robinhood Markets Incorporation is headquartered in Menlo Park, California and claims to make investment simple and democratic. It is also popular among amateur stock traders. According to media reports, the founders of the company Baiju Bhatt and Vlad Tenev were inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests and thus created an app that is more accessible for individual investors. 

According to local media, Robinhood Markets and three of its executives are selling up to 60.5 million shares of its stock in the initial public offering, with trading expected to begin on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “HOOD.”

Also Read| Robinhood IPO: A look at the estimated gain for the founders

Priced at $38 a share on late Wednesday, the low end of its expected range of $38 to $42, which is a sign of tepid investor interest. This will put the company’s total value at close to $32 billion.

In May this year, Robinhood’s board of directors approved an incentive plan that would award Tenev up to 22.2 million restricted stock units over the next eight years if the stock hits certain targets. Under the same plan, Raju Bhatt would receive 13.2 million shares of the company.

The company also faced wave of lawsuits during the Gamestop saga.