After bounced Spac deal: Apparent layoffs at trading app Etoro

Etoro's online brokerage platform had planned a 10 billion euro deal with a spac. Now the transaction is unlikely to materialize.

The fallout from the collapsed deal with Spac is apparently having a big impact on Etoro. Due to less customer activity, the company had to downsize, according to a media report. Six percent of the staff had to be laid off, which is 100 of the 1,700 employees. A spokeswoman for Etoro confirmed the information to Finance Forward the six percent and said they had to keep an eye on costs due to the current market. It is now important to pay more attention to profitability, she added. The company has ten offices in the U.S., Israel, among others, but also a small team in Germany.

When Fintech Acquisition Corp. V. made Etoro a takeover offer last year, the financial start-up was still considered a high-flyer. The special purpose acquisition company (Spac) wanted to take over Etoro, at the time at a valuation of $10.4 billion. But the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) apparently did not approve the merger. In the meantime, the market has turned around and the stock prices of competitors such as Coinbase or Robinhood have fallen sharply. Etoro was apparently no longer able to push through the valuation.