by San-Diego Pohl, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany.
Jochen Schweizer’s voucher model seemed like a financial revolution because it increased the company’s value in a short period. Customers paid upfront for experiences such as skydiving or bungee jumping, which provided the company with immediate cash. However, a fatal accident in 2003, in which a customer died during a bungee jump, pushed the firm to near insolvency (Sigler, 2003). In response to the crisis, the business model supported the liquidity and the company’s financial recovery (Maier, 2017).
Jochen Schweizer’s sports background inspired him to found a company offering adventurous experiences, based on a voucher model. To understand why this concept became a risk, it is necessary to highlight the role of customer prepayments. Customers pay upfront for vouchers that can be redeemed at any time and are not tied to a specific activity offered by the firm. The prepayments create an inflow of cash to the firm before the service is delivered, stabilizing liquidity and making the company look financially stronger on the balance sheet. Since voucher prepayments are recorded as liabilities until they are redeemed, they also create a cash risk if the company must pay out more than it has available.
The risk was not theoretical because Jochen Schweizer’s voucher volume increased significantly and there was an imbalance between inflows and outflows of cash. On the one hand, vouchers worth over €100 million were unredeemed, while on the other hand, the firm had €9.5 million available for potential cash out options (Maier, 2017). If many customers had redeemed their vouchers at the same time, the company would have faced financial difficulties. Therefore, learning for entrepreneurs is clear, because rapid growth without clear cash flow planning can turn an innovative business model into a structural financial disaster.
From a finance perspective, stronger working capital management would have been necessary. Instead of using voucher payments directly for expansion, the company could have kept a larger cash reserve to prepare for periods with higher voucher redemption. By limiting the total number of voucher sales and improving forecasting of customer behaviour to estimate when vouchers are likely to be redeemed, Jochen Schweizer could also have reduced the risk of cash flow difficulties.
However, the company faced regulatory challenges in 2023, because the German financial supervisory authority counted high value vouchers above €250 as electronic money (ProsiebenSat.1, 2024, p. 2). This classification required a financial license, which the company did not have at the time. As a result, the parent company, ProSiebenSat.1 was sued to pay €3.9 million. Therefore, the group adjusted its business model to comply with BaFin regulations and avoid further licensing difficulties (Gürtler, 2024).
Overall, the Jochen Schweizer case illustrates the potential and difficulties of a voucher-based business model. While it allowed the firm to grow quickly, it also created legal and financial difficulties. The case also shows the relevance of financial accounting, risk management and clear entrepreneurial choices.
