Twitter boss Jack Dorsey's Square sets lower than planned price for IPO
Tech billionaire and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s float of his less-famous business — mobile payments company Square — has been given the thumbs-down by investors.
Increased wariness over tech launches long on hype and short on profits forced Square to cut its offer price from the hoped-for range of $11 (£7.20) to $13 a share to just $9 to get the float away.
The final price is more than 40% below the amount Square fetched a year ago when it raised $180 million (£120 million).
Square — known for its small white readers that plug into smartphones and tablets — is now worth about $3 billion compared to the $5 billion which was implied by last year’s fundraising.
It is yet to be profitable in six years of trading, while Twitter — another company yet to make a profit — is still stuck below its 2013 $26 float price.
Meanwhile dating giant Match.com was forced to inform the US Securities and Exchange Commission after Sean Rad, boss of Match subsidiary Tinder, broke pre-float “quiet period” rules on not promoting the company in an interview with the Evening Standard.
