Chanticleer

Don’t let emotion obscure Afterpay lesson

Not many stocks have divided investors the way Afterpay does. But beyond the emotional responses is a lesson about keeping an open mind to new ways of doing business.

Updated Aug 6, 2021 – 12.42pm, first published at 12.02pm

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The dust may be settling on Square’s extraordinary $39 billion takeover of Afterpay, but it will be a while before the emotions generated by the buy now, pay later giant cool.

One of the fascinating aspects of Afterpay’s meteoric rise has been its unique ability to divide investors. The big banks and miners might shift the index with the smallest of share price moves, but it seemed everyone had an opinion on Afterpay, and rarely was it mild. Not surprisingly, these divisions only increased the higher Afterpay’s valuation rose.

James Thomson is senior Chanticleer columnist based in Melbourne. He was the Companies editor and editor of BRW Magazine.