Modern MBA

Data

Affirm

The largest buy-now-pay-later lender in America, whose installment plans are built into Shopify checkout and Apple Pay.

13 figures on Affirm, drawn from 3 Modern MBA case studies.

The figures

US dollars11

Against its own chart
Retail value of products bought with BNPL · 2021$8B1st of 3 · top $8BWhy buy now, pay later never makes money
Retail value of products bought with BNPL · 2020$5B2nd of 3 · top $8BWhy buy now, pay later never makes money
Retail value of products bought with BNPL · 2019$3B3rd of 3 · top $8BWhy buy now, pay later never makes money
Annual revenue in millions · 2021$870M1st of 3 · top $870MWhy buy now, pay later never makes money
Annual revenue in millions · 2020$509M2nd of 3 · top $870MWhy buy now, pay later never makes money
Annual revenue in millions · 2019$264M3rd of 3 · top $870MWhy buy now, pay later never makes money
Annual operating loss, the three years all three reported · 2020−$107M1st of 3 · worst −$383MWhy buy now, pay later never makes money
Annual operating loss, the three years all three reported · 2019−$127M2nd of 3 · worst −$383MWhy buy now, pay later never makes money
Annual operating loss, the three years all three reported · 2021−$383M3rd of 3 · worst −$383MWhy buy now, pay later never makes money
Operating income of the largest venture-backed tech startups, 2022, in millions−$866M4th of 12 · top $1,802MWhy AI is just big data again
Operating income in 2022, in millions of dollars−$866M4th of 7 · top $1,802MWhy the scooter startups all went bankrupt

Counts2

Against its own chart
Active merchants · 202129,0001st of 2 · top 29,000Why buy now, pay later never makes money
Active merchants · 20206,5002nd of 2 · top 29,000Why buy now, pay later never makes money

Case studies covering Affirm

Case study — TechnologyWhy the scooter startups all went bankruptA Bird scooter grossed $2,000 a year, cost $1,300 to buy and $1,000 to maintain. It lost money on every vehicle, always.15 min readCase study — TechnologyWhy AI is just big data againBig data was sold for a decade and produced nothing. The same players are running the identical playbook with AI.15 min readCase study — FinanceWhy buy now, pay later never makes moneyThe loan you take is not funded by the company you owe. It is bought back days later, above what it is worth.13 min read