Klarna Taps Sequoia Partner As Next Board Chairman

On Tuesday, Swedish “shop now, pay later” fintech giant Klarna revealed several major changes to its board of directors, chiefly that Michael Moritz is replacing Jon Kamaluddin as Chairman.

Moritz is a partner at Sequoia Capital, an early investor in Klarna, and has served on Klarna’s board since 2010. He joined Sequoia in 1986 and has served as the firm’s board member for a slew of investments in major tech companies including Google, LinkedIn, PayPal, Yahoo, KAYAK, Instacart, Strava, and Stripe.

Additionally, Klarna announced that three new members — Omid Kordestani, Lise Kaae, and Sarah Smith — will join the company’s board, while Kamaluddin and Sarah McPhee will leave their board positions.

In the announcement, Klarna Co-Founder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski stated, "I am humbled to welcome an exceptional group of executives to the Klarna Board and the longstanding commitment of Sequoia Capital and Sequoia Partner, Michael Moritz, to the company.” He added, “I equally would like to express my thanks to both Jon Kamaluddin and Sarah McPhee for their great collaboration and longstanding commitment to the Board over the past years."

The reshuffle of Klarna’s board comes as the company is pushing to expand its presence in the U.S. market at a critical time. Shoppers are spurning brick and mortar stores for online alternatives due to COVID-19, causing U.S. e-commerce sales to grow faster than anticipated to almost $795 billion this year, up 32.4% year-over-year.

“We are at a true inflection point," said Siemiatkowski, “as consumers are actively turning away from inferior services to those that better meet their needs and the Klarna team is looking forward to working closely together with the board on our mission to become the world's favourite way to shop and bank.”

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