Affirm: The Next American Express (Audio)

Affirm's stock fell more than 90% after its 2021 IPO, but the underlying business has emerged stronger. Today, it processes more than $50 billion in annual purchases and is growing over 30% a year. Fraser Christie, founder and CIO of Sandstone Global Investment, joins Business Breakdowns to explain why Affirm is better understood as a payment network than a traditional consumer lender, and why its founder Max Levchin may ultimately be remembered more for Affirm than for co-founding PayPal. We explore how Affirm makes money, its powerful network effects, the advantages of transaction-level credit underwriting, and how the company navigated one of the fastest interest rate increases in decades. We also discuss its competition with Klarna, the growth of the Affirm Card, opportunities in AI and agentic commerce, and the technical culture Max has built inside the business. Follow Business Breakdowns: https://x.com/bizbreakdowns This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Portrait Analytics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - your centralized resource for AI-powered idea generation, thesis monitoring, and personalized report building. Built by buy-side investors, for investment professionals. We work in the background, helping surface stock ideas and thesis signposts to help you monetize every insight. In short, we help you understand the story behind the stock chart, and get to "go, or no-go" 10x faster than before. Sign-up for a free trial today at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠portraitresearch.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠