Early Life
Maksymilian Rafailovych "Max" Levchin was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 11, 1975. His family immigrated to the United States in 1991, settling in Chicago. He attended Mather High School and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1997.
Rise to Success
Levchin co-founded the company that would become PayPal in 1998, playing a crucial role in developing its anti-fraud measures. PayPal went public in 2002 and was later acquired by eBay. Levchin's 2.3% stake in PayPal was worth approximately $34 million at the time of the acquisition. In 2004, he founded Slide.com, a personal media-sharing service, which was acquired by Google in 2010 for $182 million.
Key Business Strategies
In 2012, Levchin founded Affirm, a fintech company specializing in buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services. Affirm went public in 2021. Levchin is also the CEO of Affirm Holdings, Inc.. His investments extend to companies like Yelp, where he was the largest shareholder and chairman of the board. Levchin is known for his focus on security and anti-fraud technologies and his innovative approach to financial services.
Philanthropy
While specific amounts are not readily available, Levchin is involved in philanthropic activities. Information on his precise giving is not widely publicized. Information on specific amounts is unavailable in the search results.