Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square and CEO of Twitter, is standing outside of the New York Stock Exchange for the IPO of Square.
Square is changing its name to Block as it focuses on technologies like theBlockchain and expands beyond its credit card reader business.
The company said in an announcement that the new name would create room for further growth. Block will still trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Block, said in a statement that they built the Square brand for their seller business. The purpose of economic empowerment remains the same despite the new name of Block. We will continue to build tools to help increase access to the economy no matter how we grow or change.
Square has a focus on in-person payments and a card reader that lets people accept credit card payments on a phone. Square has added a peer-to-peer digital banking app, small business lending, received a bank charter, and offers stock trading. Afterpay and Jay-Z's music streaming service Tidal have been acquired by the company. It is also doubling down on the digital currency.
Square will change its name to Square to better reflect the new brand.
Block said in a statement that the company's name has many meanings, including building blocks, neighborhood blocks and their local businesses, communities coming together at block parties full of music, a section of code, and obstacles to overcome.
After running both Square and Twitter for a while, he stepped down from his other job as the CEO of Twitter on Monday. Square will have more time to devote to its growing portfolio, as a belief that the founders of the company were ready to move on from them was cited by the man. But he is also interested in cryptocurrencies.
The news comes roughly a month after Facebook changed its name to reflect on CEO Mark Zuckerberg's plan to build a virtual world called the metaverse. Six years ago, the company changed its name to reflect other lines of business.
Square was one of the biggest winners of 2020. The shares are down 2% so far this year as investors move away from higher-growth tech names.
Square trades on the New York Stock Exchange.
