Wirecard
Wirecard AG is an insolvent[4] German payment processor and financial services provider whose former CEO, COO, two board members, and other executives have been arrested or otherwise implicated in criminal proceedings.[5] In June 2020, the company announced that €1.9 billion in cash was missing. It owed €3.2 billion in debt. In November 2020, the company was dismantled after it sold the assets of its main business unit to Santander Bank for €100 million. Other assets, including its North American, UK and Brazilian units had been previously sold at nondisclosed prices.[6] The company offered electronic payment transaction services and risk management, and issued and processed physical and virtual cards. As of 2017, the company was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and was a part of the DAX stock index from September 2018 to August 2020.
Company type
InfoGenie AG
(until 6 April 2005)
1 January 1999
Insolvent
Worldwide
Thomas Eichelmann
(chairman of the supervisory board)
5,300 (Jun 2019[3])
The company is at the center of an international financial scandal. Allegations of accounting malpractices had trailed the company since the early days of its incorporation, reaching a peak in 2019 after the Financial Times published a series of investigations along with whistleblower complaints and internal documents. On 25 June 2020, Wirecard filed for insolvency following revelations that an amount of €1.9 billion was "missing".[7][8] Long-time CEO Markus Braun subsequently resigned and was later arrested. Former COO Jan Marsalek disappeared, after being fired from his position and board seat, and remains a fugitive wanted by the German police. He has been on Europe's Most Wanted list since 2020.[9]
On 25 August 2020, the court-appointed insolvency administrator issued a statement that "under the preliminary insolvency administration, it has since been possible to stabilize the ongoing business and create a basis for its continuation." The statement mentioned how "far-reaching cuts are therefore necessary in order to make any kind of continuation possible" and announced the impending layoff of around 730 employees, in addition to all members of the management board.[10]
In March 2022, Munich public prosecutors charged former CEO, Markus Braun, with fraud, breach of trust and accounting manipulation. If found guilty on all these charges, he could face up to 15 years in prison.[11] Braun was held in the Stadelheim prison as a pre-trial custody until the trial began.[12]
History[edit]
Founding and early business model[edit]
Wirecard was founded in 1999 and took care of the technical processing of credit card payments for online vendors. According to the Spiegel, it initially "consisted primarily of porno and gambling sites".[13] In 2002, when it was close to folding at the end of the dot-com bubble, Markus Braun injected capital and joined as CEO. He consolidated the company and focused the business model on providing internet payment services, initially mainly to porn and gambling websites.[14]
