thecoinrepublic.com
The acquisition will help both the companies to deliver valuable financial services and products
- The merger will enable smaller merchants to offer staggered payments at checkout as well
- Both companies shared a shared vision and purpose
- Bitcoin is a currency for the masses control must be in the hand of the masses –Dorsey
Well-known US digital payment platform Square, founded by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, will acquire Australia’s Afterpay Limited for $29 billion. The company announced it on Sunday.
Afterpay is a fintech application available in Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It is based upon the “buy now, pay later” model that offers users staggered payments, often without any fees. It has 100,000 suppliers worldwide and boasts 16.2 million customers.
The merger and the acquisition will happen in the first quarter of 2022. The process will involve an exchange of shares and will value Afterpay at approximately $29 billion. It was revealed in a joint statement by the two entities.
Completing the deal offers a 30 percent premium on Afterpay’s share price at closing Friday; shareholders will own 18.5 percent of the new company’s capital.
The statement further added that the acquisition would help both the companies to deliver valuable financial services and products, thereby expanding the consumer base and also increase the incremental revenue for merchants of all sizes.
A shared vision and purpose
In a statement Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsay said that both companies shared a shared vision and purpose. Both the companies are driven by the goal to make the financial system more fair, accessible, and inclusive. Dorsey also serves as the CEO of Square, which operates the mobile payment platform Cash App. Cash App has a user base of 70 million per year.
Buy Now, Pay Later is an excellent tool
Alyssa Henry, head of Square’s Seller business, feels that Buy Now, Pay Later is an excellent tool that helps sellers globally. Square is planning to amalgamate Afterpay’s credit services into its existing Seller and Cash App units. It will enable smaller merchants to offer staggered payments at checkout as well.
For Afterpay co-founders Anthony Eisen and Nick Molina, it is a milestone for the Australian technology sector as homegrown innovation continues to be shared more broadly globally.
In July, Square stated that it is working on a real-world wallet for safely pocketing bitcoin cryptocurrency. Hardware wallets can store Bitcoins offline and be synced with applications for transactions on the internet as needed. Owners of Cryptocurrency can also store their cryptocurrency in virtual wallets. Virtual wallets are third party services that keep the money safe, and users can access funds by using passwords.
Dorsey expressed his views on Twitter and said that bitcoin is a currency for the masses, and it is essential that the control must be in the hands of the masses and not outside parties. Dorsey envisaged a bitcoin wallet that enables the user to shop for daily groceries through their smartphone while protecting the rest of the cryptocurrency.
In March, Square revealed something which no one in their wildest dreams had forecast. Square said it was buying a controlling stake in Tidal, the streaming music platform created by a group led by rap star Jay-Z. Dorsey explained the goal was to find “new ways for artists to support their work.”