{"schema_version":1,"citation_url":"https://567business.com/news/ro-3-billion-run-rate-406-employees-zombie-company","title":"Ro's CEO called it a 'zombie' at 596 staff. With 406 people, it now claims a $3 billion run rate","description":"Ro's CEO says the telehealth startup grew more than tenfold since 2021 after cutting staff, brands and money-losing revenue. The numbers are self-reported.","author":"Patrick Karsh","publisher":"567 Business","date_published":"2026-11-11T15:04:19.943009Z","date_modified":"2026-11-11T15:04:56.456055Z","body_markdown":"Ro, the New York telehealth startup, says it now brings in revenue at a pace of more than $3 billion a year. It does that with 406 employees, fewer than it had at the end of 2021, when sales were about $270 million a year. CEO Zach Reitano laid out the numbers on Wednesday in a long X post titled \"Refounding Ro to $3B+ Run Rate.\" In it, he calls the 2021 version of his company a \"zombie.\"\n\nThe figures are Ro's own. Ro is private and does not publish audited results. A run rate is recent monthly revenue multiplied out to a year, not a full year of sales.\n\n## From \"zombie\" to $3 billion\n\n\"In 2021, we were a zombie company,\" Reitano wrote. \"Not enough growth to matter, too much cash to die, and a pref stack that would squash an elephant.\" A \"pref stack\" is the pile of investor shares that get paid out before common stock. Ro had raised about $800 million over the five years before that, according to a summary of the post by [Pulse 2.0](https://pulse2.com/ro-3-billion-plus-revenue-run-rate-reflects-nearly-10-fold-growth-following-2022-company-restructuring/).\n\nAt the end of 2021, Ro's yearly revenue pace was about $270 million and growing about 9% a year. Reitano says revenue has grown more than 100% a year, on average, for the past three years.\n\n```chart\ntype: bar\ntitle: Ro's annualized revenue run rate\nprefix: $\nsuffix: M\nnote: Company-reported run rates, not audited annual revenue\nsource: [Zach Reitano on X](https://x.com/ZReitano/status/2120502035455811893), [Pulse 2.0](https://pulse2.com/ro-3-billion-plus-revenue-run-rate-reflects-nearly-10-fold-growth-following-2022-company-restructuring/)\n---\nPeriod | Run rate\nEnd of 2021 | 270\nOctober 2026 | 3,000\n```\n\nReitano's post is an X Article. By mid-morning it had about 28,000 views and 170 likes.\n\nhttps://x.com/ZReitano/status/2120502035455811893\n\n## Fewer people, ten times the revenue each\n\nThe headcount numbers are the part founders will argue about. Ro had 463 employees in December 2021. It grew to 596 by May 2022. By October 2026 it had 406. That is about a third fewer people than at the peak.\n\n```chart\ntype: column\ntitle: Ro employees\nsource: [Pulse 2.0](https://pulse2.com/ro-3-billion-plus-revenue-run-rate-reflects-nearly-10-fold-growth-following-2022-company-restructuring/)\n---\nDate | Employees\nDec 2021 | 463\nMay 2022 | 596\nOct 2026 | 406\n```\n\nThe cuts came in waves. Ro parted ways with about seven vice presidents between January and May 2022. It cut about 20% of staff in June 2022. After the formal \"refounding\" in August 2022, another 6% to 8% chose to leave within 90 days. Reitano says revenue per employee has risen more than tenfold. Staff and operating costs are now below 15% of net revenue, he says.\n\nReitano also wrote that the cuts were hard choices, not wins to celebrate. Still, the math is blunt. Ro now does more than ten times the business with 57 fewer people than it had at the end of 2021.\n\nInvestor Patrick O'Shaughnessy released a long interview with Reitano on his Invest Like the Best podcast the same morning. His post sums up the pitch: \"over $3B, with about a third fewer people.\"\n\nhttps://x.com/patrick_oshag/status/2120501799123591271\n\n## What Ro cut besides people\n\nRo started as Roman, a men's health brand. By 2021 it ran a sprawl of brands, including Rory for women's health, Modern Fertility, Ro Mind and Ro Derm. The refounding folded them into one brand. Ro shut more than 10 products, according to Pulse 2.0's summary.\n\nIt also walked away from money. Ro dropped more than $50 million of direct-to-consumer revenue that lost money on each customer. It ended its business-to-business work, including tech for Amazon Care, clinical trial services for Siemens and at-home lab tests for Prudential.\n\nWhat replaced all that was weight loss. Ro's growth has come largely from GLP-1 drugs, including branded drugs from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Ro calls itself the leading US provider of GLP-1s. That claim has not been checked by an outside source. Reitano says Ro has served more than 1% of the US population.\n\n## How it stacks up against Hims & Hers\n\nThe post landed two days after Ro's public rival, Hims & Hers, reported results that [sent its stock down](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/article/hims--hers-stock-sinks-after-q3-results-outlook-disappoints-154547661.html). The comparison is not exact, since Hims reports audited quarterly results and Ro reports a run rate.\n\n| Measure | Ro | Hims & Hers |\n| --- | ---: | ---: |\n| Revenue pace | $3B+ run rate | $3.56B (Q3 x 4) |\n| US revenue pace | Not disclosed | $2.63B (Q3 x 4) |\n| Recent growth | 100%+ a year (3 yrs) | 49% (Q3, 21% in US) |\n| Employees | 406 | Not in Q3 release |\n\nHims numbers come from its [third-quarter 2026 results](https://investors.hims.com/news/news-details/2026/Hims--Hers-Health-Inc--Reports-Third-Quarter-2026-Financial-Results/default.aspx). Hims had $890.4 million in revenue, with $657.1 million in the US. It expects $3.13 billion to $3.15 billion for 2026. Its gross margin fell to 57% from 74% a year earlier, and it lost $33 million in the quarter.\n\nHims House, an investor fan account not tied to the company, put the two side by side on X. It said Hims had a two- to three-times lead over Ro two years ago, citing card spending data from Bloomberg Second Measure. We have not seen that data.\n\nhttps://x.com/himshouse/status/2120511971510436328\n\n## What it means for startups\n\nRo last raised money in February 2022, a $150 million round at a $7 billion value, [TechCrunch reported](https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/15/existing-investors-double-down-on-ro-at-boosted-7-billion-valuation/). Four months later, it cut a fifth of its staff. One investor on X wrote that the post reads like a pitch ahead of an IPO. Ro has said nothing about an IPO.\n\nThe lesson for founders is about focus: fewer brands, fewer bets, fewer people. Investors have been paying up for lean, fast-growing startups. See [Mercor's jump to a $20 billion value](/news/mercor-20-billion-series-d-inference-salaries). Health tech is hot too, as [Oura's $625 million deal for Counsel Health](/news/oura-counsel-health-625-million-ipo) shows.\n\nThe caveat is the same one that applies to any self-reported number. Until Ro files audited results, $3 billion is the CEO's figure. And much of the growth rides on GLP-1 drugs, a market where prices and rules can change fast.","link_base":"https://567business.com/news/ro-3-billion-run-rate-406-employees-zombie-company","citation_guidance":"Cite citation_url. Preserve source links, dates and qualifications. date_modified is an edit date, not proof that every claim was rechecked. Third-party images and quoted material retain their own rights."}