There was some theory that Robinhood was maximizing the number of people who owned a shares by doing exactly that—everybody gets one share.
This is, imo, a very smart move. Those who wanted more can buy the stock after trading started like I did, or put it back wherever they had it.
Those who own a share, maybe for some their first stock share ever, begin a journey like mine about seven years ago when I bought a share of Tesla with a bonus from work. It’s a risk. It’s scary. It also can be a little addictive. But if you’re patient and lucky you can make money faster than putting it in the bank. Of course, you can also lose it. I hope no one ever risks more than they can afford to lose. Because they might.
Since buying a few shares of Tesla I also bet on a few other companies and lost those investments almost entirely. Thankfully the amount I made on Tesla and RocketLab more than made up for these losses. But they might not have.
So spreading out the shares gets the most people using the app. The more who use it, the more Robinhood makes. I’m sure they are maximizing their own profits in that approach.
And btw, people can also buy Robinhood…on Robinhood. I did.