The fintech giant Square is changing its name to Block, effective December 10. The name change, which has been in the works for over a year, is intended to house the company’s various products — including music streaming service Tidal, Cash App, TBD, and of course, Square — under one brand.
This announcement comes just days after Square founder and CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down from his CEO role at Twitter, which he also co-founded.
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,” said Dorsey in a press release. “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.”
The name Block is also a nod to the company’s growing interest in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. The existing Square Crypto product will also be renamed to Spiral.
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“Block references the neighborhood blocks where we find our sellers, a blockchain, block parties full of music, obstacles to overcome, a section of code, building blocks, and of course, tungsten cubes,” the company wrote in a Tweet.
Square isn’t the first major tech company to rebrand this year, of course. Facebook changed its corporate branding to Meta just over a month ago, as the company faced increased scrutiny in the press and in Congress. But like Square, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg felt that the Facebook brand didn’t represent the company’s growth to include products like Instagram, WhatsApp, Horizon and Quest.
Square even referenced the timing of this rebrand in its announcement: “Not to get all meta on you … but we’re going to!”
Earlier this year, Afterpay agreed to merge with Square. The company’s Cash App also recently expanded to allow teens aged 13 to 17 to open accounts with parental oversight, while Tidal is preparing for a shift toward direct artist royalty payments in the new year.
Block’s NYSE ticker symbol SQ will remain the same. The company also added that there will be no organizational changes at this time.
