When Jack Dorsey isn't somewhat inelegantly downsizing Twitter, he's busy filing for an initial public offering on behalf of the OTHER company at which he's CEO: Square! Get ready to trade on that one as SQ, as the company announced in a blog post. And, for good measure, a tweet.
We publicly filed our S-1 with the SEC. This Tweet does not constitute an offer of securities for sale. Legend here http://t.co/YyrinusQTa
— Square (@Square) October 14, 2015
The mobile payments service you use at food trucks makes 95 percent of its money from payments and point-of-sale services, as Square takes a 2.75 percent cut of most of the credit card transactions it process. Some speculate that's the cause for the initial offering size, which is just a placeholder, of $275 million.
Like Twitter, Square was co-founded by Dorsey, back in 2009. “We believe sellers should be able to accept any type of payment, from cash to cards, Apple Pay to bitcoin, and whatever the future may bring, so they never miss a sale,” The executive said in a note to investors that was filed with the prospectus. That prospectus also noted his dual roles “may at times adversely affect his ability to devote time, attention, and effort to Square.”
The New York Times notes that the filing shows the company's revenue was up 54 percent from last year to $850 million. Losses were up, too, at $154 million in 2014 from $104 million in 2013. Square also said in its filing that the it had a net loss of $77.6 million from January 2015 to June 2015 on revenue of $561 million.
Re/code makes much of Square's 2012-forged alliance with Starbucks, on whose transactions it had been losing money. That's coming to an end, and "[taking] out the Starbucks deal... tells a story of a healthier core business with even a path toward, yes, profitability," Re/code writes.
The Business Times adds that research firm CB Insights currently values Square Square at over $6 billion.
Per Square: "Goldman, Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan are acting as lead joint book-running managers for the proposed offering. Barclays, Deutsche Bank Securities, Jefferies, RBC Capital Markets, and Stifel are acting as additional book-running managers for the proposed offering, and LOYAL3 Securities, Inc. is acting as a co-manager."
Previously: Will Square Go Public, Kaput, Or To The Highest Bidder?
