Jack Dorsey’s Square changes corporate name to Block, like Facebook changes to Meta

Payment giant, Square changes its name to Block as it focuses on blockchain-like technology and expands beyond its original credit card reader business. Jack Dorsey said in a statement that the new name, effective December 10, "confirms the company's growth" and "creates opportunities for further growth." The block continues to trade on the ticker SQ of the New York Stock Exchange.

Co-Founder and CEO Dorsey said in a statement: “We created the Square brand for the merchant business that owns it. “Block is a new name, but our goal of expanding economic opportunities is the same. No matter how we grow or change, we will continue to create tools to help expand access to the economy.”

Dorsey co-founded Square in 2009 with a focus on personal payments, focusing on a card reader of the same name that allows people to accept credit card payments on their smartphones. Since then, San Francisco-based Square has  added peer-to-peer digital banking  and small business lending apps, gained a bank charter, and started offering cryptocurrency and stock trading. The company  acquired Afterpay provider buynowpaylater  and JayZ's Tidal music streaming service. They are also doubling their bitcoin through a crypto-centric business called TBD.  As part of the

Square Square Crypto rebrand, the "Bitcoin Promoter" portion of the company is changing its name to Spiral.  The name Block “has many associated meanings for companies such as building blocks, neighborhood and local businesses, communities coming together at  parties full of music,  blockchain, pieces of code and hurdles to overcome,” Block said.

Jack Dorsey (Dorsey) resigned as Twitter's CEO on Monday after running both Twitter and Square since 2015. He said he thinks Twitter is "ready to leave the founders" and  will now spend more time on Square. Growing portfolio. However, Dorsey is also expected to focus on the cryptocurrency craze.

The news comes about a month after Facebook changed its name to Meta to reflect CEO Mark Zuckerberg's plan to create a virtual world called Metaverse. Six years ago, Google renamed Alphabet to Alphabet in the same way to reflect its other business units.
Square has become one of the biggest winners of 2020 as consumers transition to digital payments. The stock is down about 2%  this year as investors move away from high-growth tech companies.