The billionaire founder of Revolut has sold shares worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the banking and finance app as he climbs the ranks of Europe’s wealthiest people.
Sky News has learnt that Nik Storonsky, the company’s chief executive, sold between 40% and 60% of the stock that was offloaded by employees in a secondary share sale which concluded last month.
That would mean that Mr Storonsky had cashed in shares worth between $200m and $300m – a small proportion of his stake in the business he established in 2015.
The entrepreneur, whose stake in Revolut is estimated to be worth in the region of $8bn, engineered last month’s share sale, which saw investors including Coatue and D1 Capital Partners become investors at a $45bn valuation.
At the time, Revolut said it had arranged the sale “to provide employee liquidity” but made no reference to Mr Storonsky’s personal windfall.
Several thousand Revolut employees are understood to have participated in the share sale, according to one insider.
“We’re delighted to provide the opportunity to our employees to realise the benefits of the company’s collective success,” Mr Storonsky said in August.
“It’s their hard work, innovation and dedication that has driven us to become the most valuable private technology company in Europe.”
A Revolut spokesman declined to comment on Mr Storonsky’s participation in the secondary share sale.
The deal cemented his status as one of the world’s wealthiest technology company bosses.
It came just weeks after the fintech app secured a long-awaited banking licence from British regulators – a process which had been mired in uncertainty for years.
Mr Storonsky had been publicly critical of the delay.
Although the fintech, which has more than 40 million customers, did not raise new capital as part of the transaction, it was still closely watched across the global fintech sector.
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Revolut recently revealed record earnings of £438m last year on revenues which nearly doubled to £1.8bn.
Founded in 2015, it has experienced a string of regulatory and compliance challenges, with reports last year highlighting its release of funds from accounts flagged by the National Crime Agency as suspicious.
The company’s growth has taken place at breakneck speed, with customer numbers soaring from 16.4 million at the point of the Series E fundraising nearly three years ago.
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Attention is now shifting to when and where Revolut will decide to become a public company.
New York is expected to be the preferred choice of its board and leading investors, although listing reforms in the UK may help London recover some of the ground it is perceived to have lost in recent years.
A similar debate is likely to take place at other British-based tech success stories, including Monzo, the digital bank.
Revolut is chaired by Martin Gilbert, the City veteran who has faced governance and performance challenges at AssetCo, the London-listed asset manager he runs.
Its other directors include Michael Sherwood, the former Goldman Sachs executive who was jointly responsible for its operations outside the US and who was regarded as one of the most skilled traders of his generation.