Researchers Claim Opera Software Relies on Doubtful Money Lending Apps

Hindenburg Research claims Opera Software risks losing a large portion of its revenue if Google takes action against the company’s dubious money-lending apps. Opera denies the findings and speaks of deception. Hindenburg has an interest in a price decline.

According to Hindenburg Research, Opera has four loan apps on the Play Store: OKash and OPesa in Kenya, CashBean in India, and OPay in Nigeria. The apps allegedly offer services that violate Google’s app store policies. For example, the terms for the short-term loans with high interest rates would be about 7 to 30 days. Google does not allow apps for loans with terms of 60 days or less. Opera claims on the apps pages that run times are between 91 and 365 days, but this would be much shorter in practice. Google tightened its loan app policy in August. Opera would now act in violation of the rules, which means there is a good chance that the app will be removed, according to Hindenburg Research.

That risk exists, while short-term loan services would have become responsible for 42 percent of Opera’s revenue in one year. Opera would explicitly point to its growth figures towards investors. The company would not be honest about its reliance on loan apps for growth. In addition, the claim goes, the CEO of Opera would be funneling money into his other business activities. This includes 30 million dollars for a karaoke app.

The dubious practices are taking place while the market share of the Opera browser is systematically declining, according to StatCounter. In Africa, Opera had a 40 percent market share in its heyday. That has now fallen to 12 percent, according to statistics. The decline is said to have started after Chinese investors took over the company in 2018.

Opera denies the allegations, saying the report contains “multiple errors, unsupported statements and misleading conclusions and interpretations” regarding the company’s business. Opera also states that it has recently developed new business activities and achieved strong financial results.

Update, 15.00: As SinergyX points out, Hindenburg Research is a company focused on short selling. The company therefore has an interest in falling prices. The company specializes in forensic research and activist short-selling, and investigations like Opera’s are inseparable from this company’s goal. That does not automatically mean that there is no truth whatsoever in claims made in this research, but it does mean that the purpose of the publication appears to be to lower Opera’s price.