68. Then, later in 2020, instead of talking with Sezzle about working
together, Shopify chose to enter into a BNPL partnership with a company called
Affirm, which at that time didn’t even have a “pay in four” BNPL product like
Sezzle’s. Nor, on information and belief, did Affirm cater to the types of small to
medium-sized merchants that Sezzle did and that comprised the vast majority of
Shopify-based stores. But Shopify’s reasons became clear because in exchange for
choosing Affirm, Shopify received warrants to purchase 20,297,595 shares of
Affirm’s stock for $.01 per share.7 Shopify’s warrants automatically vested when
Affirm conducted its initial public offering six months later. Just days after
Affirm’s initial public offering, those shares became worth well over $2.3 billion.
69. Then, one year after Shopify partnered with Affirm, on June 10,
2021, Shopify launched its BNPL product called “Shop Pay Installments.”
Shopify immediately incorporated Shop Pay Installments into the Shop Pay
accelerated checkout which, as explained earlier, saves and prefills consumers’
payment and shipping information so that their orders can be completed more
quickly and so Shopify can capture the consumers’ information and lock them
into using Shop Pay for future purchases.
Complaint Against ShopifyFascinating reading.....if you clip above for the full case. It's long but worthwhile reading...
