Cheap Thrills
Forbes Indonesia|April 2019

Peter Szulczewski’s Wish was the world’s most downloaded shopping app last year. Its ultra-cheap wares make Walmart look like Bergdorf, but his 90 million users can’t afford to care—and their impulse purchases have added up to a $1.4 billion fortune for Szulczewski.

Parmy Olson
Cheap Thrills

On a sun-filled San Francisco afternoon, Peter Szulczewski is climbing the stairs to the top of a Sansome Street skyscraper, past floors filled with Wish data scientists and engineers, pool tables and DJ equipment. Large windows give way to a stunning view of the city. But most of Szulczewski’s customers don’t work in offices like this or live in Northern California coastal enclaves. In fact, most of them don’t have much money at all. Wish’s customers are typically working-class Americans from places like the Florida Panhandle or East Texas, Dollar Store shoppers who find Amazon Prime’s $120 annual membership too rich for their blood.

“Forty-one percent of U.S. households don’t have $400 worth of liquidity,” Szulczewski says, referring to the Fed’s latest estimate. He says customers of his ultra-bargain shopping site have their credit cards declined most often right before payday, rattling off statistics as he easily mounts another flight of stairs, his legs conditioned by decades of weight lifting (he says it helps him relax). The 37-year-old Polish-born former Google engineer is obsessed with ordinary folks’ finances and has used that obsession to tailor an e-commerce marketplace just for them, filled with no-name merchandise shipped directly from Chinese merchants.

Wish was the most downloaded shopping app worldwide in 2018 and is now the third-biggest e-commerce marketplace in the U.S. by sales. Globally, some 90 million people use it at least once a month. Taking a 15% cut of their purchases, Wish doubled its revenue last year, to $1.9 billion. As of its last fund raising round, it was valued at more than $8.7 billion, and Szulczewski’s 18% stake makes him a billionaire. (His cofounder, Danny Zhang, owns just 4.2%.) Szulczewski says investors should expect an IPO in the next year or two.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2019-Ausgabe von Forbes Indonesia.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2019-Ausgabe von Forbes Indonesia.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

WEITERE ARTIKEL AUS FORBES INDONESIAAlle anzeigen
BACK ON TRACK
Forbes Indonesia

BACK ON TRACK

Collective wealth gets a 21% boost to a record $162 billion amid an economic uptick.

time-read
10+ Minuten  |
December 2021
Championing Locals
Forbes Indonesia

Championing Locals

The wave of social commerce is enabling inclusive digital economies beyond urban areas.

time-read
6 Minuten  |
December 2021
Boys in the Bubble
Forbes Indonesia

Boys in the Bubble

Startups are supposed to specialize, but OPENSEA’s founders thrived by building a wide-open market for creating and trading all manner of NFTs, whether art, music or gaming. Now that they’re centimillionaires and poised to become billionaires, they have other worries: competitors, fraudsters and the next crypto crash.

time-read
6 Minuten  |
December 2021
Enduring Relations
Forbes Indonesia

Enduring Relations

The implementation of IA-CEPA amid the pandemic signifies the Indonesia-Australia’s commitment to recover and counter future challenges together.

time-read
6 Minuten  |
December 2021
Sweet Success
Forbes Indonesia

Sweet Success

Steven Erwin envisions Unifam to become a major global player in the confectionery and F&B industry.

time-read
5 Minuten  |
December 2021
Marathon Man
Forbes Indonesia

Marathon Man

Across America, scores of municipal pension funds remain scandalously underfunded. But not the pension fund of Tampa’s police and firemen, thanks in large part to JAY BOWEN, whose no-frills approach to stock picking has protected and served them for more than 45 years.

time-read
5 Minuten  |
December 2021
Gold Rallies on Inflation Fears
Forbes Indonesia

Gold Rallies on Inflation Fears

During September the price of gold rallied to $1,868 per ounce following the release of figures on US inflation by the Bureau of Labor Statistics which indicated that, as of September, CPI inflation had rocketed to 6.2%, above the 5.8% which economists had been predicting.

time-read
2 Minuten  |
December 2021
Set Off to A New Start
Forbes Indonesia

Set Off to A New Start

Bank Aladin has two main ingredients for success: establish trust and offer better customer experiences.

time-read
5 Minuten  |
December 2021
The Daily Intake
Forbes Indonesia

The Daily Intake

YOUVIT plans to invest further into marketing and grow into one of the leading vitamin brands in Indonesia.

time-read
4 Minuten  |
December 2021
THE CROESUS OF CRYPTO
Forbes Indonesia

THE CROESUS OF CRYPTO

FTX COFOUNDER SAM BANKMAN-FRIED BUILT A $22.5 BILLION FORTUNE BEFORE HIS 30TH BIRTHDAY BY PROFITING OFF THE CRYPTOCURRENCY FRENZY—BUT HE’S NOT A TRUE BELIEVER. HE JUST WANTS HIS WEALTH TO SURVIVE LONG ENOUGH TO GIVE IT ALL AWAY.

time-read
10+ Minuten  |
November 2021