Akuna Capital slashes 70 staff while advertising $140k graduate, internship roles

A second wave of redundancies has hit one of Australia’s highest paying graduate employers, with 134 staff now having been cut from the company in less than six months.

Akuna Capital has slashed about 23 per cent of its workforce in less than six months. Picture: Instagram

Akuna Capital slashed a further 70 staff roles on Friday, announcing its second wave of mass redundancies in less than six months.

The derivatives trading firm, founded by a former Hong Kong-based partner at Optiver, is understood to have completely axed its business operations team, a Hong Kong trading desk and an office in Shanghai as well as having slashed a number of roles in its Sydney office, according to reputable sources from the company.

The mass redundancies arrive after The Australian newspaper exclusively revealed in January the firm had cut 64 roles, rescinding contracts for new graduates and axing a total of 30 roles in Australia.

The redundancies on Friday are the second wave to hit the company this year. Picture: Instagram

The combined number of redundancies to hit the company – not including rescinded job offers – now totals 134. The firm had 580 staff in January, which means it has cut just under one quarter of staff this year, slashing 23 per cent of roles.

On Microsoft-owned jobs platform LinkedIn on Friday, 529 people still had Akuna Capital listed as their employer, with a breakdown of 303 staff in the US, 156 in Australia and 32 in China.

It’s understood that all of the companies offices in the China region, including Hong Kong and Shanghai, would now be shut. Locally, a number of human resources, events, recruitment and project management staff are understood to have lost their jobs. Much of this information was relayed to staff via a town-hall meeting on Friday, sources told The Australian.

At the time of the redundancies, Akuna Capital was still advertising for several internship and graduates roles on Seek, boasting of salaries of $140,000.

A nine-week internship program was offering potential staff a $140,000 pro-rata salary meanwhile graduate roles offered the same figure with an “attractive bonus package” on top.

The Australian newspaper last year exclusively revealed that Akuna Capital’s graduate salaries were among the highest in the country, paying a total package of about $200,000 per year.

Competitor trading firms Optiver, IMC and Jane Street Capital were also among the highest paying graduate employers, offering $250,000, $200,000 and $350,000 salaries respectively.

The IMC package, which the company is understood to be increasing this year, included a $125,000 base, $25,000 sign-on bonus and $50,000 guaranteed variable ­remuneration.

Akuna Capital had run a strong recruitment campaign on social media platforms in recent weeks, sharing FAQs answered by recent interns and graduates on what it describes as the “penultimate internship”.

Last month it shared the three pieces of advice it gave to participants of its winter trading program: “Ask lots of questions, bring the energy and have fun and be yourself.” However, it’s understood that some interns may not begin their program.

The Australian reached out to the firm’s Asia Pacific chief executive Johnny Norris several times on Friday but did not receive a response.

Mr Norris, who previously worked at tech trading firm Susquehanna International Group and as a compliance analyst at Citi Bank, joined Akuna Capital in 2020 as a compliance manager. He held three roles with the title chief in front of them, progressing to chief compliance officer, chief operating officer and chief executive of APAC in November last year.

The firm was founded twelve years ago by Andrew Killion – a former Optiver Hong Kong Partner – who returned to Sydney in 2020, when he purchased the Vaucluse home of Alexander Ma for $30m.

Mr Killion was revealed to be a major backer of Teal independent Allegra Spender, throwing $50,000 behind her campaign in Wentworth and $325,000 to the Climate 200 election fund.

Mass redundancies have taken place across the technology sector for more than 18 months, with recent redundancies landing at local QR-code menu business Mr Yum, social media platform Linktree and Microsoft-owned jobs platform LinkedIn. Those businesses have respectively shed 40 roles, 60 roles and 716 roles this year.

Originally published as Akuna Capital slashes 70 staff while advertising $140k graduate, internship roles