Vlad Tenev
Vladimir Tenev | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 13, 1987 Bulgaria |
| Occupation(s) | Business leader, entrepreneur |
| Known for | Co-founder and CEO of Robinhood |
Vladimir Tenev (; born February 13, 1987) is a Bulgarian-American business leader and co-founder alongside Baiju Bhatt of the American financial technology company Robinhood, where he currently serves as CEO.
Early life
Born in Bulgaria, Tenev relocated to the United States at age five when his parents, both employed by the World Bank, moved there. He completed his secondary education at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia. Later, he obtained a degree in mathematics from Stanford University, where he first connected with Bhatt. He briefly enrolled in a doctoral program at UCLA but left to pursue entrepreneurial ventures.
Career
In 2010, Tenev and Bhatt launched Celeris, a company specializing in high-frequency trading software. By early 2011, they shifted focus and established Chronos Research, which developed low-latency trading software for financial institutions and banks.
The duo founded Robinhood in 2013 and released its mobile application in 2015. The platform revolutionized brokerage services by introducing commission-free trading. A funding round in May 2018 valued Robinhood at $6 billion, elevating both founders to billionaire status. Tenev assumed the role of sole CEO in November 2020. Robinhood went public in July 2021 through an IPO that valued the company at $32 billion.
GameStop short squeeze
During the GameStop short squeeze, Tenev justified Robinhood’s choice to limit purchasing of certain stocks and options, including GameStop, a decision that attracted widespread criticism from users and political figures across the U.S. political spectrum.
On January 28, 2021, Robinhood and several other brokerages suspended buying of GameStop shares and other heavily shorted assets.
Tenev appeared before the United States House Committee on Financial Services on February 18, 2021, to discuss Robinhood’s involvement in the events. Lawmakers criticized him for his responses and for the imposed trading constraints.
He stated that restricting trades was essential to fulfill federal clearinghouse collateral requirements and refuted claims of any coordination with hedge funds during the incident.
In its July 2021 Form S-1 filing with the SEC, Robinhood revealed that the US Attorney's Office had executed a search warrant on Tenev’s mobile phone as part of an investigation related to the GameStop episode.
Other activities
In 2023, Tenev co-established Harmonic, an AI startup based in Palo Alto, where he holds the position of executive chairman. The firm aims to mitigate AI hallucinations by producing and validating Lean code to improve AI reasoning processes.
He was invited as keynote speaker for UCLA’s Mathematics Commencement Ceremony in 2019.
Awards
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Forbes 30 Under 30 | Young Traders | Template:Won |
| 2022 | Forbes 30 Under 30 Hall of Fame |
Personal life
Tenev is married to Celina A. Tenev, who co-founded Call9, an emergency healthcare service. Together they have three children.
In popular culture
In the 2023 film Dumb Money, which portrays the GameStop short squeeze, Tenev is depicted by actor Sebastian Stan.
External links
- Living people
- Founders of American financial firms
- Billionaires from the United States
- Alumni of Stanford University
- Robinhood (company)
- Bulgarian immigrants to the United States
- Individuals from Varna, Bulgaria
- Billionaires of Bulgarian origin
- Alumni of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
- Individuals formerly classified as billionaires
- Born in 1987
- American billionaires