Block becomes parent company of financial services company
Another major brand is changing its name, with fintech company Square announcing it will be rebranding as “Block.”
Block will become the name of Square’s parent company, with the Square moniker remaining the same for the individual business.
“We built the Square brand for our Seller business, which is where it belongs,” CEO Jack Dorsey said in a statement. “Block is a new name, but our purpose of economic empowerment remains the same.”
The move comes only weeks after Facebook changed its name to Meta and only days after Dorsey resigned from his position as CEO of Twitter.
Block’s ticker symbol on the NYSE will remain SQ for the time being, however, its legal name is set to change to Block, Inc. on or around Dec. 10.
Brands under Block such as Cash App, a mobile payment service, and TIDAL, a music streaming service, will keep their names, according to the company.
The company is also changed the name of its cryptocurrency initiative, Square Crypto, with the new name becoming Spiral.
Block said in its statement that its new name has a variety of symbolic meanings which represent the company and its mission.
“The 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,” the company said.
The new name makes Block the latest big tech company to change its official title, following the aforementioned Meta, and Google, which made itself a subsidy of a new parent company it named Alphabet back in 2015.
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