After bounced Spac deal: Apparent layoffs at trading app Etoro

Etoro's online brokerage platform had planned a €10 billion deal with a Spac. Now the transaction is unlikely to go ahead.

The fallout from the failed deal with Spac has apparently had a major impact on Etoro. According to a media report, the company had to downsize due to less customer activity. Six percent of the staff had to be made redundant, that is 100 of the 1,700 employees. A spokeswoman for Etoro confirmed the six percent figure to Finance Forward and said that costs had to be kept in check due to the current market. It is now important to pay more attention to profitability. The company has ten branches, including in the USA and Israel, as well as a small team in Germany.

When Fintech Acquisition Corp. V. made Etoro a takeover bid last year, the financial start-up was still considered a high-flyer. The Special Purpose Acquisition Company (Spac) wanted to take over Etoro, at that time at a valuation of 10.4 billion US dollars. However, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) apparently did not approve the merger. The market has since turned and the share prices of competitors such as Coinbase and Robinhood have fallen sharply. Etoro was apparently no longer able to enforce the valuation.