Affirm shares soar on news of Amazon partnership for buy now, pay later By Anand Gupta Top News and Analysis (pro)

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Affirm's buy now, pay later checkout option will be available to some Amazon customers in the US starting Friday and will have a wider rollout in the coming months.

The partnership will let Amazon customers split purchases of $50 or more into smaller, monthly installments.

Friday's partnership is the latest sign of the booming installment loan space as young consumers move to these alternative lines of credit.

Amazon is buying now, pay later.

The e-commerce giant is partnering with Affirm for its first installment payment option on the popular e-commerce site.

The Buy Now, Pay Later checkout option will be available for some Amazon customers in the US starting Friday and with a wider rollout in the coming months, the companies said in a statement. The partnership will let Amazon customers split purchases of $50 or more into smaller, monthly installments.

Affirm's stock rose 48% on Friday after the news increased its market capitalization by more than $8 billion, with a subsequent settlement of nearly 33%. Amazon shares remained unchanged.

Friday's partnership is the latest sign of a thriving credit space as young consumers move to these alternative lines of credit. Earlier in August, Square jumped into the space with a $29 billion deal to buy Australian fintech Afterpay.

So-called installment loans have been around for decades, and were historically used for big-ticket purchases such as furniture. Online payment players and fintechs are competing to launch their own versions of "pay later" products for online items for less than hundreds of dollars.

See also: Confirm review: When should you use a 'Buy now, pay later' provider?

Affirm is one of the most famous installment payment options. It works with over 12,000 merchants including Peloton and Walmart.

PayPal, Klarna, Mastercard and Fiserv, American Express, Citi and J.P. Morgan Chase is offering all similar loan products. Bloomberg reported last month that Apple plans to launch installment lending in partnership with Goldman Sachs.

Affirm said that some Amazon customers will bear the loan interest, but some will come with a 0% APR.

Epharm Senior Vice President of Sales, Eric Morse, said in a statement, “By partnering with Amazon, we are bringing a proven offering of transparency, predictability and affordability to the millions of people shopping on Amazon.com in the US today. " . "Offering Affirm's alternative to credit cards gives consumers the more choice and flexibility of payments they need on Amazon."

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Affirm shares soar on news of Amazon partnership for buy now, pay later Affirm's buy now, pay later checkout option will be available to certain Amazon customers in the U.S. starting Friday.

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