Vladimir Tenev (Bulgarian: Владимир Тенев; born 13 February 1987) is a Bulgarian-American entrepreneur who is the co-founder (with Baiju Bhatt) and CEOofRobinhood, a US-based financial technology services company.
He earned a degree in mathematics from Stanford University, where he met Baiju Bhatt.[4] He studied for a mathematics PhD at UCLA, but dropped out to work with Bhatt.[2][5]
In 2010, Tenev and Bhatt started a high-frequency trading software company called Celeris. By January 2011 they abandoned it to create Chronos Research, which sold low-latency software to other trading firms and banks.[6]
In 2013, Tenev and Bhatt co-founded the trading platform Robinhood.[4] In 2015, Robinhood launched its mobile app to the public.[7] Following a funding round in May 2018 which increased Robinhood's valuation to $6 billion, Tenev and Bhatt became billionaires.[4][8]
In November 2020, Tenev became the sole CEO of Robinhood, having previously shared the co-CEO title with Bhatt.[9]
Tenev defended Robinhood's decision to prevent users from buying stock or options in a variety of securities, notably GameStop, during the GameStop short squeeze;[11][12][13][14] the decision had sparked widespread criticism from users of the app as well as politicians in both major American parties.[15]
On January 28, 2021, Robinhood was among a number of brokerages that halted users from buying stock or options in GameStop and the other heavily shorted-securities.[16]
On February 18, 2021, Tenev testified before the United States House Committee on Financial Services regarding Robinhood's role during the GameStop short squeeze.[17][18] Tenev came under criticism from members of both parties and was criticized for struggling to provide answers to a number of questions.[19][20][21]
His testimony explained that Robinhood’s decision to halt securities was driven by a need to meet federal clearinghouse deposit requirements, and refuted a number of theories that accused Robinhood of colluding with hedge funds during the squeeze.[22]
In its July 2021 Form S-1 filing with the SEC, Robinhood disclosed that the US Attorney's Office had executed a search warrant for Tenev's cell phone as part of a probe into the GameStop short squeeze.[23][24][25]
Media related to Vladimir Tenev at Wikimedia Commons
