Square Fast-Tracks IPO With Hiring of Ex-Yahoo Exec

Does Marissa Meyer know?

Multiple reports have said that Jacqueline Reses, the chief development officer of Yahoo, has been hired by Jack Dorsey’s Square Inc to head it s business financing division, Square Capital. Forbes said the hiring was done as Square closes in on its highly-anticipated initial public offering.

There has been much speculation on why Square decided to go public despite losing a lot of money. Business Insider quoted an expert on startup data, who posits that the mobile payment and merchant services aggregator may be having difficulty raising money in private markets, and is trying their luck with the public.

Re/code said Reses was one of Meyer’s closest advisers until recently. It has been suggested that Reses’ move to Square would be a harsh blow to Yahoo. Bloomberg said several top executives of Yahoo has since moved on to other companies following the search engine’s attempt to gain market share against Google and Facebook.