By Cara Waters
The biggest corporate takeover deal in Australian history will turn a host of key staff members and early investors in Melbourne headquartered Afterpay into instant multi-millionaires and cement the billionaire status of its high-flying founders.
Afterpay on Monday announced a US$29 billion ($39 billion) takeover deal with Square, the US payments firm which is led by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. Co-founders Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen started Afterpay in 2014 and the pair each still hold 19,455,963 shares in the company. Square’s offer values their 6.7 per cent holding at $2.61 billion each.
Afterpay founders Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen. Credit: Eamon Gallagher
However, a host of other figures associated with the company at an early stage are also set to become multi-millionaires on paper as a result of the deal.
“A lot of the staff members have made a lot of money,” one Afterpay insider who wanted to remain anonymous said. “Move over, Macquarie bank — Afterpay is the millionaires factory. This is a big pay day really for a lot of the staff. I don’t think there has ever been such a significant wealth generating company that has got there in five to six years.”
Key staff members set to benefit from the sale include Afterpay’s executive vice-president of sales for APAC, Rachel Kelly, and senior director of business development at Afterpay, Fabio De Carvalho, who was the company’s first employee.
Afterpay’s most recent annual report lists chair Elena Rubin as holding 64,847 shares worth an estimated $8 million, a holding which is dwarfed by Cliff Rosenberg, a former country head at LinkedIn and director at Afterpay since 2016, who holds 1,450,659 shares worth an estimated $180 million.
Former executives are also likely to have done well including Afterpay’s former chief financial officer Luke Bortoli and the so-called “third Beatle” of Afterpay, David Hancock, who headed up the company for a number of years and held an estimated 6.5 million shares before selling down the majority of his shares when he resigned from Afterpay’s board in 2019.
Mr Hancock declined to comment but he is likely to have sold many of his shares at a higher premium than that placed on Afterpay by Square.
Former Afterpay adviser and PR guru Brett Clegg holds an estimated 40,000 shares in the company worth an estimated $5 million but also declined to comment on any windfall.
Early investors who hung on through Afterpay’s rollercoaster ride and are also likely to benefit include prominent Melbourne billionaire Alex Waislitz of Thorney, who has had a stake in Afterpay from the time it was listed on the ASX.
“It is fantastic to see how Afterpay’s Australian-grown technology has been taken up on the world stage and this deal is a credit to both the vision and the executional abilities of Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar and their teams,” Mr Waislitz said.
Thorney is estimated to still retain about $50 million worth of Afterpay shares after gradually reducing its holdings over the past 12 months. It also holds a significant stake in Afterpay rival Zip.
The family of Touch founder Adrian Cleeve, who passed away in 2016, also holds a significant stake in Afterpay alongside Mr Cleeve’s widow Wendy Ng.
Cleevecorp, the family trust set up by Mr Cleeve’s brothers holds 6,225,124 shares making up 2.2 per cent of the company and valued at an estimated $858 million, while Ms Ng has sold down most of her stake but retains 0.65 per cent valued at an estimated $253 million.