SAN FRANCISCO — Just one day after Jack Dorsey stepped down as CEO of Twitter, he’s already making big moves at his other company Square. Dorsey has decided to change the name of Square this week to Block.
Block will be the new name for the company as Square has expanded beyond its original business model for helping sellers receive and manage payments from customers.
The company’s NYSE ticker symbol “SQ” will not change at this time.
The change to Block acknowledges the company’s growth. Since its start in 2009, the company has added Cash App, TIDAL, and Bitcoin service TBD54566975 as businesses, and the name change creates room for further growth. Block is an overarching ecosystem of many businesses united by their purpose of economic empowerment, and serves many people—individuals, artists, fans, developers, and sellers.
“We built the Square brand for our Seller business, which is where it belongs,” said Jack Dorsey, cofounder and CEO of Block. “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 change to Block distinguishes the corporate entity from its businesses, or building blocks. There will be no organizational changes, and Square, Cash App, TIDAL, and TBD54566975 will continue to maintain their respective brands. A foundational workforce, which includes teams such as Counsel, People, and Finance, will continue to help guide the ecosystem at the corporate level. As a result of the name change, Square Crypto, a separate initiative of the company dedicated to advancing Bitcoin, will change its name to Spiral.
The company says the new name has many associated meanings for the company — building blocks, neighborhood blocks and their local businesses, communities coming together at block parties full of music, a blockchain, a section of code, and obstacles to overcome.
In October, Facebook changed its company name to Meta Platforms and said it would also change its stock symbol from FB to MVRS next year.
