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Sebastian Symotkowski, CEO of Klarna, performs at the Fintech event in London on Monday, April 4, 2022.
Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg via Getty Images
London -After 20 years of the role of CEO of Claorn Sebastian Symotkowski -this will face the most stringent test when the financial technology firm is preparing for the debut in New York.
In 2005, the 43-year-old Siemiatkowski with Niklas Adalbert and Victor Jacobsan colleagues with the aim of taking traditional banks and firms from credit cards with more convenient payments on the Internet.
Today, Klarna is a synonym “Buy Now, Pay Later”-Method for Payment, which allows people to buy things and either postpone payment by the end of the month, or pay their purchases for a number of equal, without interest-monthly parties.
But while Symotkowski moved to the Clarna into Fintech’s power plant, his entrepreneurial journey was not without any problems – from a collision with competitors such as as Enhancement. State and Block‘s afterpay, up to 85% estimate.
However, Siemiatkowski did not take these lying problems, and the open co -founder is not shy to challenge criticism in the run to IPO, which can estimate it at $ 15 billion.
“Enough crazy”
In October 2024, CNBC met with Siatkovsky during a Swedish businessman’s visit to London. For a businessman, who collided with US slides and falls, a two -year -old CEO has a calm air.
“Regardless of all cycles and all we survived with the company Google In size that we can become hundreds of a market company or a trillion dollars, “said Siemiatkowski CNBC.” I’m still crazy enough to think it’s achievable. “
One day a pandemic era is a favorite estimated at $ 46 billion in the financing of the SoftBankClear He saw his estimate falling 85% in 2022 to $ 6.7 billion As the inflation and interest rates grow that the investor’s moods for technology firms with high growth.
But the firm tried to restore this blurry value in the coming years.
Klarna earns money mostly from the fees he charges traders for providing his payment services, except for revenue from financing interest and advertising revenue.
The financial preparations were disclosed in its submission that Klarna reported a $ 2.8 billion profit last year, which is 24% compared to last year and net income of $ 21 million in comparison with net loss of $ 244 million in 2023.
Bulls on AI
After launching the generative AI Chatgpt Openai Siemiatkowski, the cloud quickly turned into technology, and especially to reduce the costs and increase the profitability of the firm.
However, Symotkovsky’s strategy and his comments also attracted disputes.
Klarna imposed freezing at hiring in 2023 when it looked to increase costs. The following year the company said his AI Chatbot was Performing 700 full -time customer service work.
The CEO of Klarna then said that in August, his company was able to reduce the total labor to 3800 out of 5000 thanks to partially for the use of II in areas such as marketing and customer service.
“Just not hiring … the company is getting smaller and smaller,” he said Reuters, adding that jobs disappear from disappearing rather than dismissal.
Asked CNBC about his views on AI and upset they causedSiemiatkowski suggested that he “apologized”, sounding Mark Zuckerberg’s comments on the Meta Meta Meta20 year old error“Having taken the responsibility for the questions he believed that his campaign was not guilty.
Double, Symotkowski added that AI “can already do a lot of jobs that people do today – but I do not want to be one of the technological leaders who stand on stage and says,” Don’t worry, there are new jobs “because I don’t know what new jobs.”
“I just want to be transparent and honest with what I think is happening and I will be better about it because I know what these people say, technical leaders say if they are not at public stages and they don’t talk about the same thing,” he said in October CNBC.
Open CEO
Siemiatkowski is no stranger to protect your company in response to criticism, especially when the Klarna’s business model is challenged, offering short-term funding for all types of things: from clothing to online output.
Last week Klarna announced the connection with Doordash to Offer its flexible payment options to the US. However, this step was met with the webbing from Internet users, who said it risked sadly fighting consumers with greater debt.
One x user published the meme Showing personal funding, Dave Ramsey signed “What you mean, you have $ 11,000 in” Doordash Log “.
Siemiatkowski took on x To protect this step, saying that Klarna “offers many ways of payment”, including the possibility of paying in full or postpone payment by the end of the month in addition to the monthly installments.
“Doordash offers a lot of food outside the food!” Boss Claorn said on X in response to criticism. “I know we are most famous for paying 4. But you can also use credit card in Doordash.”
In 2022 the entrepreneur was opened emphasized that his company is “exceeding” to credit cards and “extremely recession” after the firm fired 10% of their labor.
When the cloud is approaching the debut on the stock market, investors are likely to study their services carefully and whether he is still the right person who will head the company for a longer term.
Lena Hackelöer, CEO of Fintech Startup Brite Payments, who worked under the guidance of Symotkowski, worked in the company for seven years between 2010 and 2017 in various marketing functions.
She was delighted with the co-founder of the Klarna-and pushed the proposals that the management was wrongly operating the business in the pandemic era.
“I never thought they were lawless, which was somehow reported,” Hockey said in CNBC in a November interview. “I think they were just very focused on height – because it was the direction that investors gave.”
Trip on mountain tracks
Symotkowski admits that the path of the building was not always pink.
Asked about the biggest problem he faced as CEO, Symotkowski said that his deposition of 10% of the workforce in 2022 was the most difficult thing he had to do.
“It was very difficult because I did not predict that the investor sentiment would move, and people would go from estimated companies such as ours so high, and then to something so low,” he said.
“It is obviously very difficult because you understand:
Klarna is a synonym of the “Buy Now, Pay Later” trend “make a purchase and postpone the payment by the end of the month or pay for defenseless installments.
Nicholas Kokolis | Nurphoto | Gets the image
“But, unfortunately, this will affect the smaller group, which is about 10% of our employees.”
Like other technology firms, Klarna has grown significantly over the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, the firm increased its gross volume of goods or the total cost of all sales processed through its platform, by 46% compared to last year up to $ 53 billion.
I think anyone who is a little prudent, this is not what you perceive the light, right? This is a tough solution. It makes you cry. I cried.
Sebastian Symotkowski
CEO of the Claorn
The company is also on board hundreds of new employees to take advantage and expand the opportunities she saw from the impact of government closing on consumer behavior and a wider acceleration of e -commerce at the time.
“I think who is, who is a little prudent, it’s not what you take a light, right?” The CEO of the Claorn said, citing dismissal. “This is a tough solution. It makes you cry. I cried.”
However, Symotkowski made his decision to deprive the workers: “I felt that I had obligations to my constituents, all these stakeholders, the company, and I believe it was a necessary decision at that moment.”
The road to the IPO
Now the CEO of Klarna is facing his biggest test-concealing business, which he has been in existence two decades ago publicly.
“IPO are risky for companies as stock prices can fluctuate rapidly,” said Nalin’s Patel, director of Emea PRIVATE Capital Research in Pitchbook, CNBC reports. “They can be expensive and prolonged to arrange with investment banks.”
Claorn at the beginning of this month submitted its avenue for the list on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has not yet set the date when it becomes public and has no stock price.
If this succeeds, the result can catapult the net value of Siemiatkowski and other shareholders, including Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake, Mubadala Investment Company and Investment Council on Canada.
Sequoia-one is the value of Klarna shareholder with 22% shares. Siemiatkowski-two-in-law owns 7% business.
The positive result of the IPO will also raise the value of Klarna staff and potentially enhance the morale after a stormy few years for the company.
“This balance between the search for a fair value for existing investors seeking cash and new investors seeking stocks in Klarna is fair. Overcoming the company can lead to its evaluation in the future. With insufficient numbers, this may mean that the money was left on the table for those out.”
