Ann: Response to Media Speculation, page-37

I don't short! I actually regret missing out on Z1P when it was below $1 and was suggested to me by a colleague.

It all seemed great! All that sexy lingo - "BNPL" and "increased basket size" and "responsible lending" and "an alternative to banks", but alas it was all a legal lie.

Why did Nick and Anthony need to sell? They knew the tide was coming for them - Klarna, Paypal, Humm, Splitit, Visa Installments. Typically the first bid is always a lowball bid, but Afterpay just latched onto Block's offer faster than Usain Bolt. There wasn't any more shareholder upside left. Nick and Anthony needed to preserve their reputation and be the heroes of the ASX, sell the company at a high, and cash in their "magic" billions built on poor people thinking they're using something that's better than a credit card.

The illusion is over. The smoke and mirrors of the greatest Australian legal scam - labeling consumer credit as... not consumer credit - is over. If it wasn't credit, why on earth did they even have a bad debt book? OF COURSE IT WAS A LOAN! DERP.

Now only the biggest will survive. Z1P and Sezzle have no choice to marry lest the might of the tech titans and payments networks crush them into fine sand.

The glory days are over for BNPL. I'm sure a combined Z1P and Sezzle will survive, but it will be slowly eaten away and then chewed up by the big sharks.