The company took another step towards subscriptions on January 26 by acquiring Revue, a Dutch newsletter start-up that competes with companies like Substack. Twitter/Revue will take a 5% of cut of newsletter writers monthly subscription revenue. Here's more on that acquisition:
https://kjlabuz.substack.com/p/62-will-twitter-kill-substack
To grow into its valuation, Robinhood needs a lot more customers and a lot more trading. Most of their revenue comes from options trading. This is lucrative for Robinhood, but may not be the most suitable product for most Robinhood customers. As regulators have started pointing out, what's best for Robinhood may not be best for its customers. More on that below.
If you dig a layer deeper on payments for order flow, the majority of that revenue comes from options trading. Because they're more opaque, options carry fatter margins versus stock. Not surprisingly, Robinhood makes it very easy for users to trade options. Lucrative for Robinhood, but potentially risky for investors. More thoughts on that below.