weren’t about to give up on their lofty expectations completely. Gone was the 10,000 hiring goal in came a hiring freeze, though Armstrong & Co. With all that’s going on, the company obviously needed to cut costs and fast. Losses are likely to continue, analysts say. Coinbase stock has now fallen about 85% from its first-day close after last year’s IPO. As the crypto bubble began to lose air, it announced a first-quarter loss of more than $400 million with declines in important metrics such as active users. SOPA Images/LightRocket via GettĪs the crypto bubble grew, its equally irrational management led by Armstrong went on a massive hiring spree, adding another 2,500 people with plans to grow to 10,000.Ĭoinbase was profitable through the craze until reality hit. Coinbase fired 18% of its workforce in a manner that has been highly criticized. The company had around 2,500 employees last fall just after its IPO, which financed a platform that allows you to trade digital coins like Dogecoin (which began as a prank) and other weird high-flying tulips. Yes, Coinbase and Armstrong are right in the middle of the meltdown and the exuberance that led to it. It’s losing money, gobs of it, like other outfits that are being crushed in the crypto crash - an epic fail that has dusted more than 70% from a market that was valued at an irrational $3 trillion just last year. That’s when Coinbase was hot, which it is now decidedly not. He made big headlines just a few months ago, snapping up swanky digs in Bel Air for a cool $133 million. He’s voluble, cocksure of his business and not afraid to flaunt his wealth.
Just 39, Armstrong is one of those crypto billionaires (aka “Bros”). Its IPO last year showered its insiders like CEO Brian Armstrong with significant wealth.
Yes, you can break the bad news and make people feel like they’re more than just numbers on a shrinking balance sheet.Ĭoinbase is a crypto exchange - the country’s largest. Let’s start with the premise that there’s never a perfect way to tell people they’re being “downsized,” a ridiculous euphemism for the dreaded corporate layoff.īut there are better ways than what went down at Coinbase last week. Joe Biden can’t even fill in FCC post with leftist nominationīond market is flashing warning: Raise interest rates or we'll do it for youĮlon's Twitter twist: Musk's big tech ‘best’ offer looks bogusīiden’s inflator in chief Brian Deese is an awful pick We're Tikking a big risk - TikTok imperils US business