Jack Dorsey’s Square Inc. to go public, files for $275 mln IPO

Square Inc., a San Francisco-based payment company founded by Twitter Inc. CEO, Jack Dorsey, has made its initial public offering prospectus public. According to the filing, it will offer around $275 million in stock.

Founded in 2009, it was valued at $6 billion at its last funding round a year ago. According to data from IPO manager Renaissance Capital, it would be among the highest-valued tech companies to make a public offering this year, Reuters reported.

Some noteworthy information about Square Inc. as disclosed in the filing includes:

• For the six months ended June 30, 2015, total net revenue grew to $560.6 million, up 51% for the same period last year. Total net revenue grew to $850.2 million in 2014, up 54% from the prior year.
• Net losses stood at $154.1 million 2014. For the six months ended June 30, 2015, net losses amounted to $77.6 million.

In the filing, the company also said it will also have two classes of shares: Class A common stock (offered to the public in the IPO) and Class B common stock (for executives, employees and other existing shareholders that will have a majority of voting power at the company). Each share of Class A common stock is entitled to one vote. Each share of Class B common stock is entitled to ten votes and is convertible at any time into one share of Class A common stock.

The company’s filing on Wednesday comes within days of Dorsey’s appointment as Twitter’s CEO. As such, he will be dividing his time, attention, and efforts between the two companies. The prospectus noted:

“Jack Dorsey, our co-founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer, also serves as Chief Executive Officer of Twitter. This may at times adversely affect his ability to devote time, attention, and effort to Square.”