Adyen has been hailed a fintech star in its own right—a darling to investors, a pandemic winner and a competitor to the likes of PayPal and Stripe. But the Dutch payments company has had a turbulent few months, as its shares have dropped about 48% since the start of the year.
The downturn, driven by intense price competition, came to a head in August when the company reported a historic low in revenue growth. Shares of Adyen tanked following the announcement, wiping out $20 billion in market value as spooked investors sold their holdings.
As the slowdown continues, it has resulted in the Amsterdam-based company’s founders Pieter van der Does and Arnout Schuijff collectively losing €1.85 billion ($2 billion), Bloomberg reported Monday. The duo’s stake in the company is now valued at €1.25 billion ($1.33 billion) as they hold roughly 3% in Adyen.
Adyen’s boom: COVID-19 and beyond
Adyen, founded in 2006, has been the payment partner for several well-known brands, including Uber, Spotify, Booking.com and more. The rivalry between Adyen and other payment juggernauts was evident when e-commerce company eBay picked Adyen to be its primary payments processor in 2018 instead of its former subsidiary PayPal.
The company also went public that year in what was Europe’s biggest IPO in 2018, making Schuijff and van der Does billionaires.
The pandemic boosted Adyen’s growth as customers who were confined to their homes resorted to online shopping. And as retailers rushed to integrate digital and brick-and-mortar commerce at the time, the Dutch company made big gains. In the first half of 2021, at the peak of COVID-19, the company clocked in a 67% increase in payment volumes compared to the same period a year ago when the pandemic had just started.
Adyen has since amped up its North America expansion, a market rich with fintech firms, as it had already proved a key player in Europe.
“We started with helping large international customers and U.S. customers going internationally. Over time, we've been able to have success with them domestically,” Adyen CFO Ethan Tandowsky said during a conference in September, according to Forbes.
Its foray into the U.S. has proved challenging as the company’s profitability has been hurt by hiring efforts as part of its expansion. Economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures have also forced potential American consumers to cut back on expenses, impacting Adyen further.
In August, the company’s first-half earnings missed analyst estimates as sales eased and hiring costs shot up. For Adyen, which had been seen as a high-growth company, the slow pace of growth gave rise to concerns about inflated valuations.
As for the company’s founders, van der Does and Schuijff have sold Adyen stock over the years, but are still estimated to be billionaires, according to Forbes.
Adyen plans to hold an investor day on Nov. 8 to discuss the company’s growth and strategy in the months ahead.
Representatives at Adyen didn’t immediately return Fortune’s request for comment.
