One of the world’s fastest rising payments companies will change its name in an attempt to shift its focus for the future.
Square, co-founded by Twitter ex-CEO Jack Dorsey in 2009 and a publicly traded company, will change its name to “Block” to refocus its corporate priorities to blockchain and other expanding technologies, CNBC reported. The name change will go into effect on Dec. 10 and will remain under the ticker SQ on the New York Stock Exchange.
Square’s central business mainly includes digital payment systems and has become a powerhouse for banking products, according to BBC News. The company has risen in growth over the past decade and has acquired several other businesses, such as mobile payment service CashApp, buy-now-pay-later platform AfterPay and Jay Z’s music platform Tidal. (RELATED: Jack Dorsey Will Step Down As Twitter CEO)
Dorsey said he “acknowledges the company’s growth” and the name change will “create room for further growth”.
We’re changing our company name so we can give the full @Square brand to our Seller business. So now we need a name to tie @Square, @CashApp, @TIDAL, and @TBD54566975 together into one. That name is “Block.” Why? https://t.co/vVSKNnMUU3
— Square (@Square) December 1, 2021
“We built the Square brand for our Seller business, which is where it belongs,” Dorsey said in a statement, according to CNBC. “Block is a new name, but our purpose of economic empowerment remains the same. No matter how we grow or change, we will continue to build tools to help increase access to the economy.”
Square Crypto, a branch of the payment conglomerate “dedicated to advancing Bitcoin,” will rename to Spiral as part of the corporate change, CNBC reported.
Dorsey stepped down as CEO of Twitter Nov. 29, stating that the move will allow him to dedicate more attention on Square and believes the social media giant is “ready to move on from its founders,” according to CNBC.
In late October, Facebook changed its name to “Meta” to manifest a center of attention towards a new virtual universe labeled the metaverse, CNBC reported.