Key Square Preorders Masked by NYSE Debut [VIDEO]
Mobile payments company Square began trading on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker SQ.
And that’s likely not the most important news out of Square today.
CEO Jack Dorsey disclosed to CNBC from the floor of the NYSE that Square has 350,000 preorders for its EMV-enabled reader, each of which costs $49. He also said taps, or NFC payments via Apple Pay and Android Pay, were about half of transactions, or equivalent to card swipes, where the new reader is in place, in a few locations in San Francisco. (The video of his conversation is below.)
The preorders number, and to a lesser degree the NFC “tap” progress, is key, because it portends Square future payment processing volume, and we haven’t been convinced that Square’s brand and services, as they stand today, can significantly extend its revenue.
Meanwhile, on the dog-and-pony show called the New York Stock Exchange, Square had a row of local vendors — all sporting Square readers, naturally — lining Broad Street today, where the NYSE is located. The sky was gray, and a light rain fell.
Things were sunnier inside the exchange. After pricing the IPO at $9 a share — a $2.9 billion valuation, a steep drop from its highest private valuation of $6 billion — Square began trading at $11.20 a share and was up 50% in early trading, according to CNBC.
