Controversial trading platform Robinhood begins trading on NASDAQ
(KYMA, KECY/ CNN) - The controversial trading platform, Robinhood, that transformed the brokerage industry is now a public company.
It marks a major milestone for the company which opened at $38 a share on Thursday, matching its initial public offering price.
Experts say it suggests Wall Street bankers priced the IPO correctly, but the company still failed to raise as much money as it had hoped. Robinhood quickly broke below the IPO price and was recently trading down about 10%.
The deal values Robinhood at about $32 billion, making it more valuable than major companies including NASDAQ, Southwest Airlines and Kroger. That's well above the $12 billion price tag that Robinhood scored in its most recent round of private funding.
