Square Jack Dorsey payment app acquires Afterpay, a 'buy now, pay later' service, for $ 29 billion in shares as the payment app Square has reached an agreement to acquire the Australian company Afterpay for 29,000 million dollars in shares, according to the company announced last Sunday.
Afterpay, which offers a buy now (pay later) service, was launched in the United States in 2018. Through it, consumers can make a purchase in 4 payments that will be paid every 2 weeks.
The user must pay 25% in advance to take home the product immediately. Thereafter, the following charges will be applied automatically and, if one of the payments cannot be made, the account will be blocked until the balance is cancelled.
This consumption model is becoming increasingly common online and, for example, Apple is working to add a similar service to its digital wallet, according to Shannen Balogh.
Square, owned by Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, will add this service to the products of the Seller and Cash applications.
Square Jack Dorsey payment app acquires Afterpay
"Square and Afterpay have a common purpose," said Dorsey, who also holds the position of Square's CEO, in a statement. "We built our business to make the financial system more fair, accessible and inclusive and the Australian company has created a brand aligned with those principles," he said.
Square Jack Dorsey payment app acquires Afterpay
Recently, the entrepreneur announced that his company is creating a new business aimed at helping bitcoin developers create financial services products.
Square Jack Dorsey payment app acquires Afterpay
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Banks return to prepandemia levels with dividends on the horizon
Banks want to shut down the COVID-19 crisis chapter. The results presented this week by the great Spanish banks return to the path of before the pandemic and the banks show their intention to return to pay the shareholder after the limitations imposed by the European Central Bank.
In total, the five major Spanish banks (Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell and Bankinter) achieved a net profit of more than 11,100 million euros in the first six months of the year.
These million dollar gains contrast with the historical losses experienced by the big banks in the first six months of last year. The economic recovery with the return of consumption and the lower restrictions due to the pandemic while vaccination is growing are supporting the recovery of the banking business. The entities last year saw their results weighed down by making millions of provisions to deal with the economic effects of the pandemic.
Although keep in mind that the millionaires results of this semester are distorted by two facts extraordinary as they are the fusion of CaixaBank and Bankia, which generates a goodwill or badwill level accounting goes up quite the bank's profits on paper although not assume a direct improvement of the business, and on the other hand, the ipo of Direct Line that provides almost 900 million euros to the accounts of Bankinter.
The positive results of this semester contrast with the accounts of a year ago. Santander recorded last year the first red numbers in its history when it lost 10,798 million euros due to high provisions due to the pandemic. For its part, BBVA closed the first half of last year in the red with losses of 1,157 million euros.
In the case of CaixaBank recorded a profit of 205 million euros last year, while Sabadell's profit this year was 51.5% above the numbers a year ago. In the case of Bankinter, the bank earned 109 million euros last year.
These results also solidify the path back to shareholder compensation. After this year the European Central Bank has limited the dividend up to 15% with the aim of preserving bank capital and supporting the flow of capital into the real economy, now that the limitation seems to ease the big banks show their intention to return to pre-pandemic figures.
The entity that Ana BotÃn chairs wants to distribute between 40% and 50% of the recurring profit, which is known on the exchange as pay out, to its shareholders at the time allowed by the European Central Bank (ECB).
For its part, BBVA maintains its intention to resume a dividend that, as it has traditionally done, involves a pay-out of between 35% and 40%. CaixaBank has announced a cash dividend of 50% of the ordinary profit and loss.
Sabadell would continue in environments of 30% of the profit.