BAIJU
BHATT &
VLADIMIR
TENEV
CO-FOUNDERS,
ROBINHOODMENLO PARK, CALIF. ○ The
brokerage added 3 million
accounts in the first four
months of 2020 as millennials
and Zoomers stuck at home
flocked to the stock market.
Since the Stanford pals founded it in 2013,
Robinhood has been about lowering barri-
ers to investing. It offered free trades before
that was industry standard, along with no min-
imum balances and an app-focused approach
that made buying shares as easy as order-
ing a burger on Seamless. So it was perhaps
no surprise that as equity markets collapsed
and then recovered, millions of newly minted
traders—many with $1,200 stimulus checks—
logged on. Their Jim Cramer was Dave
Portnoy, founder of the irreverent Barstool
Sports Inc., who live streamed his profani-
ty-laced trading sessions and rooted that
“stocks only go up!” (Portnoy has no formal
relationship with Robinhood.)
A September funding round lifted
Robinhood’s valuation to $11.7 billion. It had
more than 13 million accounts as of then and
expanded from about 600 employees in late
2019 to more than 1,000 this fall. Although
the trading frenzy was good for business,
Robinhood ran into trouble, too. Consumer
protection agencies got roughly four times
the number of complaints about the broker-
age as some of its peers in the first half of
the year. The company also drew regulatory
scrutiny for its handling of an outage in March
and over whether it properly informed clients
about how it completed customer orders. “We
strive to maintain constructive relationships
with our regulators and to cooperate fully with
them,” a Robinhood spokesperson said in a
statement in September. —Annie Massa
KYOTO, JAPAN ○ Animal Crossing: New
Horizons has sold more than 26 million
copies since its March release, making
it the most popular version of the
series in its almost 20-year history.Imagine inhabiting an idyllic island where
you can garden, fish, decorate your
home, go to a concert or museum, or
try your hand at a stock market where
trades are conducted in turnips. Want to
see what your friends are up to? Just hop
over to their islands. If this sounds to you
like a lovely respite from the hellscape
that was 2020, you’re not alone: The
virtual-life simulation was so popular it
caused a run on Nintendo’s Switch con-
soles, leading to a global supply shortage
that wasn’t resolved until the fall.
Kyogoku, one of the only female game
directors in Japan, has long credited
the success of the series to the diverse
team behind it; they’ve broadened
the game’s appeal beyond the typical
teenage-male demographic. Part of the
draw is making fun aesthetic choices,
whether they’re the statues decorat-
ing your house or your clothing. That’s
thanks to Nogami, who’s earned cred-
its on other major titles including 2006’s
Wii Sports. The massive hit Nogami and
Kyogoku created has helped Nintendo
shares climb about 35% this year.
—Takashi MochizukiAYA KYOGOKU
DIRECTOR
& HISASHI
NOGAMI
PRODUCER,
ENTERTAINMENT
PLANNING
& DEVELOPMENT,
NINTENDO CO.I Kyogoku once designed an Animal Crossing-themed haramaki, a belly warmer that’s popular in Japan