Concerns about Afterpay extend beyond the sharemarket.
The only problem was,these details weren't disclosed to the ASX,triggering a'please explain'from the exchange. Then,buried in an ensuing business update thatwas released to the exchange,the small revelation that Afterpay was being probed byAustrac over potential violations of money-laundering laws.
Now investors have to get their heads around Afterpay's founders taking $100 million off the table as the company raises $300 million in fresh capital.
For a while now,a fierce battle has been raging in the investment community over Afterpay. There's a significant cohort of short-sellers who are convinced the company's business model is weak and its heroic valuation unsustainable.
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They are being beaten to a pulp by the market bulls,though,who point to Afterpay's undeniable growth,and argue the service is a phenomenon reinventing the way consumers buy things.
The scorecard isn't pretty for the shorts:since the IPO in 2016,the stock has surged more than 2000 per cent,making Afterpay a $6 billion company.
It must be said,the debate over Afterpay stretches well beyond the investment community. Consumer groups have long been alarmed that the company is trapping vulnerable people in debt (Afterpay insists otherwise and can rattle off a string of statistics to support that).