Klaarna Sebastian Siemiatkowski CEO is facing the largest test to date: Public subscription

LONDON – 20 years after Klarana CEO, Siopastian Simiakovsky, is about to face the most difficult test so far as the financial technology company is preparing for the first time in New York.

Siemiatkowski, 43, participated in the establishment of Klarna in 2005 with his colleague in Swedish entrepreneurs, Niklas Adalth and Victor Jacobson with the aim of taking over traditional banks and credit card companies with an easy -to -use online payment experience.

Today, Clarena is synonymous with “Buy Now, Pay”-a method for payment that allows people to buy things or postpone payment until the end of the month or pay their purchases on a series of equal benefits-free monthly installments.

But while Siemiatkowski grew into a symmetrical power, his journey in entrepreneurship was not without challenges – from facing the increasing competition from competitors such as PayPaland to be sure and roadblockAfter that, to 85 % the evaluation drowns.

However, Siematkowski did not face these lying challenges and the explicit co -founder is not shy of challenging criticism in the period that reaches the general subscription that can estimate it at $ 15 billion.

Independently from all the courses and everything we passed with with the company, any time I ask myself, do I still think that Clarda can become the next Google In size, we can become hundreds of billions of dollars in the market, or a trillion dollars, “I tell Simiakovsky:” I am still crazy enough to think this can be achieved. “

Once my love, the epidemic era 46 billion dollars in a Softbank financing roundClear Its evaluation saw a decrease of 85 % in 2022 to 6.7 billion dollars Since high inflation rates and interest rates have led to a decrease in investor morale on high -growth technology companies.

But the company tried to rebuild this eroded value in the years.

KLARNA mostly earns money from the fees that merchants receive to provide their payment services, as well as income from the financing plans carrying benefits and advertising revenues.

The financial statements that were revealed in the public subscription file show that Clarna reported revenues of $ 2.8 billion in the past year, an increase of 24 % on an annual basis, and a net profit of $ 21 million-with an increase in a net loss of 244 million dollars in 2023.

Clarna imposed a freezing of employment in 2023 because it looks forward to tightening costs. The following year, the company said that AI chatbot was Doing 700 customer service jobs full -time.

Then KLARNA CEO said in August that his company was able to reduce the total workforce to 3800 out of 5,000, in part due to the application of artificial intelligence in areas such as marketing and customer service.

“Through the lack of employment … the company has become smaller and smaller,” he said, adding that the jobs disappear due to the attrition rather than the demobilization of workers.

CNBC asked her about his views on artificial intelligence and They disturbed that they causedSiemiatkowski suggested that he had “finished an apology”, echoing comments from Mark Zuckerberg on the CEO of Meta “20 years error“Whoever takes responsibility for the issues that his company believed did not blame.

Siemiatkowski, whom it multiplied, added that “Amnesty International can really do a lot of jobs that people do – but I do not want to be one of the technology leaders who stand on the stage and say:” Don’t worry about it, there will be new jobs, “because I do not know what new jobs are.”

He told CNBC in October: “I just want to be transparent and honest with what I think is happening, and I prefer to be open to that, because I know what these people are, and technology leaders say when they are not in general stages, and they do not say exactly the same things.”

Last week, Clarna announced a link with Doordash Provide flexible payment options on the application of food delivery in the United States. However, this step was met with a violent reaction from Internet users, who said it was risking consumers who struggle with more debts.

X user Mimi published Dave Ramsey Personal Financial Show with Examination Naming, “What do you mean that you have $ 11,000 in” DooDash Debt “.

Siemiatkowski Take to x To defend the move, saying that Klarna “offers many payment methods” including the ability to pay entirely or postpone payment until the end of the month in addition to the monthly installments.

“Doordash offers many products outside the food!” Clarna’s president said to X in response to criticism. “I know we are the most famous for payment in 4. But you can use a credit card in Doordash as well.”

In 2022, the explicit businessman His company was “superior” on credit cards And “very stagnant resistant” after the company 10 % of its workforce applies.

As Klarna approaches the appearance of the stock market, investors are likely to examine his busy record and whether the person is still the right to lead the company in the long run.

Lena Hackelöer, CEO of Fintech Startup Brite Payments, based in Stockholm, is a person who worked under the leadership of Simiakovsky, after he worked in the company for seven years between 2010 and 2017 in various marketing functions.

She expressed her admiration for the co-founder of Clarna-and led to suggestions that the leadership is poor business administration during the era of the epidemic.

“I never thought they had misled, which was reported in one way or another,” Hakleuer told CNBC in an interview with him in November. “I think they were focusing a lot on growth – because this was the direction that investors have made.”

Like other technology companies, Klarna has grown dramatically on the Covid-19s. In 2020, the company grew the total goods or the total value of all sales that were addressed through its platform, by by 46 % year -based, to $ 53 billion.

The company has also dismantled hundreds of new employees to take advantage of the opportunity it witnessed from the government’s impact on consumer behavior and the broader acceleration to adopt e -commerce at that time.

“I think anyone is a little sane, this is not something you take, right?” Clanca CEO said, referring to the demobilization of workers. “It is a difficult decision. It makes you cry. I cried.”

However, Siemiatkowski stood up in his decision to get rid of the workers: “I felt as if I was binding towards my voter, everyone, all the stakeholders, the company, and I think it was a necessary decision at that time.”

Clarna earlier this month The release bulletin was presented to it to be included on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has not yet set a date for the audience’s flashes, and has not been priced.

If successful, the result can decrease the clear value of Siemiatkowski and other shareholders including Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake, Mubadala Investment Company and Canada Plan Plan Investment.

Sequoia is the largest contributor to Klarna with a 22 % stake. Siemiatkowski is the second larger, 7 % of the business.

The result of the positive public subscription will also raise the value of Klarena employees, and may enhance morale after a few years turning off to the company.

“It is a balance between finding a fair value for the current investors who look forward to spending and new investors who seek to obtain a stake in Clarna at a fair price. Exaggeration in the company’s estimate may lead to a decrease in its evaluation in the future. While reducing the value may mean that the money has been left on the table for those who come out.”