Afterpay co-founder and buy now, pay later pioneer Anthony Eisen steps down

Anthony Eisen became one of the country’s wealthiest men after co-founding tech giant Afterpay more than a decade ago - now he has left his executive role to focus on philanthropy.

Afterpay co-founders Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen

Buy now, pay later pioneer Anthony Eisen has stepped down from executive duties at Afterpay to pursue “outside interests”, departing the company he founded more than a decade ago.

Mr Eisen moves on from the business a little more than three years after Afterpay was involved in Australia’s largest merger and acquisition deal, selling to Block, formerly Square, for $39bn in ­August 2021.

Afterpay changed the short-term lending market for good when it launched in 2014, digitising in-store laybuy purchases with a payment method that would become accepted by the nation’s largest retailers on and offline across multiple industries, from fashion to homewares and hospitality. It was a move that changed the industry, with multiple competitors forming and Australia’s largest banks and other payment providers, including PayPal, coming on board with similar options, sometimes linked to credit cards.

Anthony Eisen is stepping down from executive duties at Afterpay.

Mr Eisen will depart the business but remain a director, a spokeswoman for Block confirmed on Wednesday, telling The Australian he had left to take on “outside pursuits”.

“Anthony has been an incredibly valued member of the Block community and a deservedly recognised leader in the Australian technology industry,” she said. “His role in transforming the ­financial sector will long be celebrated locally and internationally.”

Afterpay’s new owner, Block, still considers the integration of the business into the wider company a risk, according to its latest earnings report, despite its gross profit growing faster than that of fellow subsidiary Cash App.

But the US fintech company sees a bright future for Afterpay co-founder Mr Molnar, who was promoted into a larger role overseeing sales across another of Block’s companies, payments platform Square.

Mr Eisen, a Sydney Grammar school and University of NSW graduate, began his career as a chartered accountant at PwC in 1995 before moving to Hambros Australia as an investment banker. In 1997 he joined Credit Suisse in a similar role in Sydney before being promoted to New York, finishing up at the business as senior vice-president in 2002.

From there he held various executive roles including director at Caliburn Partnership, chief investment officer at Guinness Peat and non-executive director at Foundation Life in New Zealand, before founding Afterpay.

Mr Eisen will remain a director at Afterpay’s local arm as well as a director at scale-up hub Stone & Chalk and the Tech Council of Australia.

The TCA had come under scrutiny over the past two weeks over its handling of one of its relatively new directors, Richard White, founder of WiseTech, who faced a series of sensational allegations about his private life in Federal Court. Mr White stepped down as chief executive at WiseTech and his position on the tech council last Thursday.

Mr Eisen is understood to be shifting his focus to philanthropy via the Eisen Family Private Fund, which he set up with wife Samantha.

The couple are the owners of a $23m beachfront property in Byron Bay, a three-bedroom home they picked up last year along a strip that is home to art collectors, former Domain boss Antony Catalano and F45 founder Adam Gilchrist.

The property is their second in the sought-after northern NSW beach town, following a $7.6m property the couple bought in 2018 from Charlie Arnott of the Arnott’s biscuits group.

Mr Eisen’s fortune was estimated at $953m in The List: Australia’s Richest 250, published by The Australian in March this year.