Block completes acquisition of "buy now, pay later" specialist Afterpay
Block (formerly Square) announced that it has successfully closed its acquisition of the "buy now, pay later (BNPL)" company Afterpay.
The recently-renamed firm originally announced plans to purchase the payment processing company for AU$39 billion back in August of last year.
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Jack Dorsey, Block co-founder and CEO, said the addition of the new assets will help his company to "deliver even better products and services for sellers and consumers while staying true to [its] shared purpose of making the financial system more fair and accessible to everyone."
Specifically, Block's Share and Cash App brands intend to integrate the BNPL functionality to give sellers of all sizes a way to let buyers acquire their goods and services while paying at a later date. Conversely, it also plans to give new and existing Afterpay customers the option to begin managing their instalment payments through the CashApp platform.
The first of these integrations went live alongside the announcement, with Afterpay's BNPL services now being supported by Square Online for e-commerce services in the US and Australia.
Afterpay's co-CEOs Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen will remain with Block and will "help lead Afterpay's respective seller and consumer businesses, as part of Block's Square and Cash App ecosystems."
Sharon Rothstein, a former Afterpay Director and Operating Partner at growth equity firm Stripes, has also joined Block's Board of Directors.