• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs

2

Meet the Zillennials: The luckiest micro-generation in the workforce, born between 1993 and 1998

3

Economists have found an answer to slowing cognitive decline: Avoid retiring early, study finds

1

Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs

2

Meet the Zillennials: The luckiest micro-generation in the workforce, born between 1993 and 1998

3

Economists have found an answer to slowing cognitive decline: Avoid retiring early, study finds
TechFinance

Exclusive: Robinhood Made Its First Acquisition Ever — And It’s a Financial Newsletter

By
Polina Marinova
Polina Marinova
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Polina Marinova
Polina Marinova
Down Arrow Button Icon
March 25, 2019, 8:30 AM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Robinhood, a no-fee trading stock trading startup, just made its first acquisition, and it’s a millennial-focused media company called MarketSnacks.

This purchase may seem odd for the fintech giant valued at more than $5 billion, but it makes sense given Robinhood’s increased push to become one-stop shop for a young investor’s needs.

“We improved ​market news​ coverage on our platform, added discovery tools on mobile, and revamped our Help Center to better answer your questions,” Josh Elman, Robinhood’s VP of product, writes in a blog post. “Robinhood Snacks is a major step towards building out these resources and helping you get more informed on market news.”

MarketSnacks, a daily podcast and newsletter, focuses solely on finance, featuring a funny photo and humorous analysis on three to four news items each morning. Now, the newsletter will re-brand to “Robinhood Snacks” and the podcast to “Snacks Daily” with exposure to the company’s existing user base of more than 6 million users as well as the general public. MarketSnacks co-founders Nick Martell and Jack Kramer will join Robinhood as managing editors of news and continue to produce the daily news offerings.

“Robinhood approached us and told us that their users were craving easily digestible and accessible business news,” Martell told Fortune. “Robinhood’s done an amazing job at breaking down barriers of financial services and financial products, but users still need good information to participate and be well-informed.”

Robinhood declined to disclose the terms of the deal and did not provide growth metrics for the newsletter. MarketSnacks had “tens of thousands of subscribers” two years ago when I last interviewed the founders.

Founded in 2012, MarketSnacks started as a creative outlet outside of the founders’ full-time jobs on Wall Street. After the markets closed, Martell and Kramer would text each other about what they’d include in the following morning’s newsletter. They then divvied up the sections of the newsletter and took turns editing it each day.

I first subscribed to MarketSnacks in 2014 when I was working at a startup in New York City. I was 22 years old, and my boss recommended a few financial newsletters that were easy to understand. I fit squarely into MarketSnacks’ target demographic as their average user is in their 20s, with 85% of their subscriber base under the age of 36. Roughly half of the newsletter readers are women. Robinhood has a somewhat complementary demographic with its average user being 32 years old and 50% of their customer base being first-time investors.

The newsletter strikes a light-hearted tone while tackling subjects like initial public offerings, acquisitions, and quarterly earnings. The goal is to translate financial news to anyone — even if they don’t work on Wall Street. For instance, rather than saying Chipotle missed on earnings, you’ll read something like, “Everyone has that friend who lamely chooses ‘burrito bowl’ over ‘burrito.’ The latest earnings from Chipotle were like that friend.”

“We make what can be dry and boring really fun and relatable,” Kramer said. “We believe humor is a great tool in making things memorable for people just getting into the financial world.”

Last year, Martell and Kramer quit their jobs to focus on their venture full time and raised funding of an undisclosed amount from Rough Draft Ventures. They also struck syndication deals with clients such as Fidelity Investments and made media appearances on financial news outlets. Robinhood approached the founders this summer and sponsored the newsletter, which ultimately led to an acquisition offer.

“A core element here is that ‘Robinhood Snacks’ will have editorial independence from the rest of Robinhood,” Martell said. “We are committed to a set of editorial principles, just like any committed news organization.”

I’ve written previously about the murky territory tech companies have to navigate when they wade into the business of content. Although Martell and Kramer insist that MarketSnacks will maintain editorial independence from Robinhood, when presented with the following scenario, those lines get blurry. I asked — if Robinhood goes public and the IPO doesn’t go so well, how will you present the event in the newsletter? “The inherent conflict of interest in that case is so strong, we’re not going to cover Robinhood at all, but we will cover everything else with editorial independence,” Kramer said.

But an important distinction is that Robinhood isn’t launching a publication. It sees the MarketSnacks acquisition as a value proposition to existing and future Robinhood customers. Subscribers to the newsletter don’t have to be a user of any Robinhood products.

The other interesting part of this deal is that Robinhood will also scoop up the MarketSnacks podcast, which offers a breakdown of the top three business stories of the day in 15 minutes. The news comes after Spotify bought podcasting startups Gimlet Media and Anchor for a combined $340 million.

“I think podcasting has a huge growth trajectory — the engagement is insane,” Martell said. “To us, this exit is a testament to the power of combining a tech company’s resources with the trust and value of a media platform.”

This article originally ran in Term Sheet, Fortune’s newsletter about deals and dealmakers. Sign up here.

About the Author
By Polina Marinova
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

‘Devin-kun’: Japan embraces agents as legacy code and a shrinking workforce create a perfect market for an AI software engineer 
AsiaAI agents
‘Devin-kun’: Japan embraces agents as legacy code and a shrinking workforce create a perfect market for an AI software engineer 
By Nicholas GordonJuly 3, 2026
3 hours ago
Chad Hurley and Steven Chen wearing suits
SuccessWealth
YouTube’s founders split over $650 million when they sold to Google in 2006—had they held out, they could have taken a slice of $550 billion
By Preston ForeJuly 3, 2026
10 hours ago
ds
CommentarySoftware
I argued with the father of open source for 2 years. Now the AI fight is the same — only bigger
By David SiegelJuly 3, 2026
12 hours ago
ashok
Commentary250 Years of Innovation
The greatest startup in history: What we can learn from America’s founders at today’s AI frontier
By Ashok N. SrivastavaJuly 3, 2026
12 hours ago
2
Commentary250 Years of Innovation
America’s secret weapon isn’t just innovation — It’s the freedom to fail
By Keith KrachJuly 3, 2026
14 hours ago
A $75 billion valuation, 75 million global customers and on its way to America—Revolut is London’s disruptor extraordinaire
EuropeLetter from London
A $75 billion valuation, 75 million global customers and on its way to America—Revolut is London’s disruptor extraordinaire
By Kamal AhmedJuly 3, 2026
14 hours ago

Most Popular

Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
Law
Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
By Wyatte Grantham-Philips and The Associated PressJuly 2, 2026
1 day ago
Meet the Zillennials: The luckiest micro-generation in the workforce, born between 1993 and 1998
AI
Meet the Zillennials: The luckiest micro-generation in the workforce, born between 1993 and 1998
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 3, 2026
17 hours ago
Economists have found an answer to slowing cognitive decline: Avoid retiring early, study finds
Economy
Economists have found an answer to slowing cognitive decline: Avoid retiring early, study finds
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 2, 2026
1 day ago
On Wall Street, analysts increasingly don’t believe the U.S. government’s 'misleading' job numbers
Economy
On Wall Street, analysts increasingly don’t believe the U.S. government’s 'misleading' job numbers
By Jim EdwardsJuly 3, 2026
13 hours ago
Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii
Success
Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 2, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 2, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.