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Affirm shares have plunged nearly 30% over the past two trading days and are on track to close out their second-worst week on record, following President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement on Wednesday.
Widespread tariffs could represent a particular problem for Affirm because the provider of buy now, pay later loans is reliant on consumer spending, and economists expect prices to rise on all sorts of goods. The news got worse on Friday when Affirm rival Klarna delayed its long-anticipated initial public offering due to market volatility.
Klarna had planned to debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker KLAR, targeting a valuation of around $15 billion. Affirm’s market cap is now $11 billion. Klarna reported $2.81 billion in revenue last year, which is about what Affirm generated over the past four quarters.
In addition to Klarna, ticketing marketplace StubHub hit pause on its share sale, raising concerns that the IPO market’s expected rebound won’t be taking place anytime soon. Chime is also reportedly delaying filing its financials publicly with regulators, further postponing its IPO, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Nasdaq is down more than 9% this week, headed for its steepest drop since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The setbacks mark a sharp turn for the BNPL sector, which had Wall Street excited toward the tail end of 2024. Affirm shares soared 60% in November, the month Trump was elected. Jack Dorsey’s Block, which owns BNPL provider Afterpay, jumped 22% that month, but is down 9% this week.
“When you go down the spectrum, that’s when you have more cyclical risk and more exposure to tariffs,” said Sanjay Sakhrani, a senior analyst at KBW. “That’s where you see a lot more weakness.”
James Friedman, an analyst at SIG, noted Affirm’s exposure to fashion, beauty and travel, which are often hit hardest when consumers retreat. Roughly 42% of Affirm’s transactions are in general merchandise, with fashion and travel combining for another quarter of volume.
A spokesperson for Affirm declined to comment on Klarna’s delayed listing.
Regarding market volatility, the spokesperson said the adoption of products such as Affirm, which offer more flexible options than credit cards, “is a secular and enduring trend across market cycles.”
“We underwrite every transaction before making a real-time credit decision and enable consumers to pay over time without any late or hidden fees,” Affirm said.
