Payments company Square changes corporate name to Block

Square, the payments company headed by Jack Dorsey, announced on Wednesday that it had changed its name to Block.

The company said in a statement on Twitter that the new corporate name allowed it to encompass its multiple businesses, which include Square, Cash App, music streaming service Tidal, and its Bitcoin-centric business TBD. 

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

Square said in a press release that its corporate name would not change until Dec. 10, and that “there will be no organizational changes.”

“Square, Cash App, TIDAL, and TBD54566975 will continue to maintain their respective brands,” Square added, noting that its NYSE ticker symbol of “SQ” would also not be changing.

“We built the Square brand for our Seller business, which is where it belongs,” Dorsey, the cofounder and CEO, said in a statement. “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 comes weeks after Facebook announced that it would be rebranding itself as Meta, a corporate umbrella encompassing the company’s multiple platforms and businesses such as Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook itself. 

The name change came during a challenging period as Facebook faced scrutiny from officials and lawmakers over its role in a range of issues including misinformation and the harmful effects of Instagram on younger users. 

Square notably poked fun at Meta’s new name in their announcement.

“Not to get all meta on you… but we’re going to! 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,” Square tweeted on Wednesday.

“We’ve been working to make this change for over a year, and it only represents a change of our official corporate name; not our purpose, our vision, our structure, or how we operate,” Square added. 

Not to get all meta on you… but we’re going to! 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.

— Square (@Square) December 1, 2021

The announcement also comes just days after Dorsey announced that he was stepping down as CEO of Twitter, which he cofounded in 2006. He will be replaced in that role by Twitter’s chief technology officer Parag Agrawa.