Pieter van der Does, CEO and cofounder of Dutch e-payment firm Adyen, is now a billionaire due to the 12% jump of the company’s shares in the market this week.
“In 2006, they established Adyen, which is Surinamese for “start over again.” The platform was built to accept a wide range of payment options and currencies, and has been adopted by tech industry heavyweights like eBay, Spotify and Netflix.”

By Ariel Shapiro
Forbes
Jan 18, 2019, 02:33pm


Pieter van der Does, CEO and cofounder of e-payment firm Adyen, is now a billionaire. (Photo provided by Adyen)ADYEN

Cofounders Of E-Payment Service Used By Netflix and Spotify Are The Netherlands’ Newest Billionaires

Pieter van der Does, CEO and cofounder of Dutch e-payment firm Adyen, is now a billionaire due to the 12% jump of the company’s shares in the market this week.

Van der Does, 49, has a 4.8% stake in the company and is worth just over $1 billion. He sold more than $53 million worth of shares during Adyen’s IPO last year.

This is not van der Does’ first time in the billionaires club. He passed that threshold when the stock first peaked in July. This week marks his first time back on the list since the market downturn in late 2018.

Adyen’s other cofounder and CTO, Arnout Schuijff, 51, became a billionaire the same day the company went public on June 13, 2018. With a 6.4% stake and more than $50 million in cash from selling some shares at the time of the IPO, Schuijff is worth nearly $1.4 billion.

Schuijff and van der Does have worked together in the e-commerce industry since 2000, according to Adyen’s head of communications, Hemmo Bosscher. Schuijff and his brother, Joost, started Bibit, another electronic payment platform. Van der Does was hired on the sales team and eventually was promoted to chief commercial officer. The Royal Bank of Scotland bought Bibit in 2004 for $100 million.

When Schuijff decided to create the platform that would become Adyen, he brought van der Does aboard to handle the business operations and be the face of the firm, allowing Schuijff to focus on building the tech. “They made a very deliberate deal when they founded the company,” Bosscher said.

In 2006, they established Adyen, which is Surinamese for “start over again.” The platform was built to accept a wide range of payment options and currencies, and has been adopted by tech industry heavyweights like eBay, Spotify and Netflix.

In a year when many tech companies have faltered, Adyen has thrived. On the day it went public, Adyen traded at double its IPO price. It processed $82 billion worth of payments in the first half of 2018, marking a 43% jump compared to the first half of 2017. The company also expanded its workforce by more than 25% over the past year, adding nearly 200 employees to the payroll.

As far as billionaires go, the business partners are low-key. Schuijff and van der Does both still ride their old bikes to Adyen’s headquarters in Amsterdam. Van der Does keeps up with his favorite hobbies: rock climbing and mountaineering.

Schuijff and van der Does may not be the last of Adyen’s billionaires. Joost Schuijff, who invested in the company, owns a nearly 3% stake and also sold $226 million in shares when Adyen went public. He is worth just below $800 million.

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