Chris Kirchner: This CEO, who bought $500K Ferrari Superfast, flew around world in private jet while his employees were unpaid, suspended

The globe-trotting CEO of a Goldman Sachs-backed company has been making headlines for months now, but not mainly for the overdue payments or long-delay in paying salaries to his employees. It’s his flashy lifestyle, and that very same thing, got the man suspended as the CEO of a tech start-up.

On Monday, the employees of Slync.io, a tech start-up that sells software to logistics companies, were informed during a virtual meeting about Chris Kirchner’s suspension.

Kirchner, who had been selling

until a few years ago before starting his logistics software company, never shied away from showing off his wealthy lifestyle – of course, after he acquired it, that is. The only problem was, he did that while the employees of his start-up were not paid their salaries, at the same time, executives who questioned about the company’s financial state or delay in paying due to the staff – were fired.

“We don’t comment on people who are still with us, whether they are suspended or not. That’s all we can say at this point,” Burt White, Slync’s vice president of sales, marketing and customer success, told
Forbes. “Slync’s got a great future. With Chris, it is what is, but I can’t talk about current employees,” White added.

Over the past 18 months, the CEO had bought a private jet valued at $15 million, purchased luxury cars, tried to buy an English football team, joined an exclusive Texas country club and more while his company kept running out of money and struggling to raise funds or even attract new customers, according to a report in
Forbes.

Kirchner’s lavish lifestyle did not go unnoticed by employees of Slync, who concluded that the CEO was more interested in living a grand life of comfort and wealth than contributing in building a successful business.

“I don’t know that [Slync] was a business so much as it was a kleptocracy,” said a former employee who did not wish to be named, as quoted by Forbes. “Chris Kirchner was ultimately using sports to buy access to things he wouldn’t have had as a regular guy.”

While employees were still facing payment delays and uncertainty at the workplace, the CEO of the company bought a black Ferrari Superfast 812, which sells between $300,000 and $500,000.

The same month, Kirchner purchased a black Ferrari Superfast 812, which retails for between $300,000 and $500,000. (Slync spokesperson Jamie Reints said the company repaid the loan at the end of 2020).

When the company announced in February 2021, that Goldman Sachs was leading a $60 million Series B funding round, which then valued the company at $240 million, Slync’s direction changed, and so did Kirchner’s own image.

As the company signed a multimillion-dollar sponsorship agreement with the NHL ice hockey team Dallas Stars, Kirchner made news for buying a Gulfstream G550 private jet. He was also spotted driving around in luxury cars—including his Ferrari, which had since been painted red.

Despite the tech start-up’s finances drying up and limited customer’s list, Kirchner had joined the Vaquero, an exclusive country club in Dallas, where an annual golf membership costs over $150,000.

The CEO even hosted a group of employees at the Vaquero during the summer of 2021. At the party, Kirchner flashed his wealth as he bragged about playing golf with Saudi princes, flying to exotic places on his private jet, the report further said.

“The lifestyle that he was living just didn’t seem real,”
Forbes quoted another former employee as saying.

After Kircher’s suspension as the CEO, Mary Athridge, a spokesperson for Goldman Sachs, told
Forbes that the investors will be providing more capital to the company to resolve the payroll issue this week. The report revealed that the outstanding payroll was about $4 million, according to the report which quoted a person with knowledge of the matter.