Most things point to the payment giant Klarna going public next year. The company's CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski has previously said, among other things to TT, that the company is ready and that it's only a matter of timing.
However, ahead of a potential IPO, several media outlets have reported that a power struggle has erupted in the board of directors.
It was Financial Times that first revealed the conflict between two of the company's founders, Siemiatkowski and Victor Jacobsson.
Contradictions
Victor Jacobsson, who has not worked operationally in the company for several years and left the board in 2016, has since been represented by Mikael Walther. Together, they own around 9 percent of the company's shares, but now the rest of the board has decided to kick out Walther, according to FT.
The background is, among other things, according to Bloomberg, that he allegedly opposed a bonus program aimed at Siemiatkowski. He is also said to have opposed the CEO and early investors getting a type of shares that would give them greater influence in the company after an IPO.
The company's chairman Mike Moritz, who according to Bloomberg is close to Siemiatkowski, has in a letter urged the owners to vote out Walther at an extraordinary general meeting on October 24, according to the news agency.
Rejects allegations
The board has had a law firm investigate Walther and after that deemed him no longer suitable. According to the news site Breakit, which has published both letters, the board believes, among other things, that Walther has threatened to block various decisions, such as setting up a holding company in the UK.
Walther has rejected the allegations and urged the owners to vote for him to stay. In a comment to Bloomberg, he says the investigation has been used as a tactic in an ongoing dispute about how the company should be governed in the long term.
As recently as last winter, the owners got rid of another board member, Sequoia's representative Matthew Miller. Miller had to go after another power struggle, where he failed to get rid of chairman Mike Moritz.
Klarna was founded in 2005 by Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Victor Jacobsson, and Niklas Adalberth. Adalberth has over the years sold off a large portion of his shares.
