Many of you will remember the heady days of Afterpay, an Australian success story. (Successful at encouraging young Australians to spend beyond their means).
Afterpay is a means of buying goods now and paying it back over time and was marketed as an alternative to credit cards. Incredibly, it was very easy for a young person to obtain an account. We say incredible because it is almost impossible for us to open a simple bank account for our clients these days, due to Government Red Tape!
Naturally, there are many people who are not good with money and debt and quickly found themselves in a frustrating cycle of working to pay off goods they had long ago consumed.
However, it was great for those who held shares in this quality company. The share price exceeded $100 and eventually in August 2021 the big payday occurred. A US company Block Inc paid $29 billion for the company! Block is a global technology company with a range of products and saw Afterpay as an opportunity to leverage its own customer base.
At the time the deal was announced, Block shares were trading at $US247.26. Recently Block shares were trading at $US66.00 per share. The company’s total current valuation is now around what it paid just for Afterpay only 2 years ago.