Finance

Jack Dorsey’s Block expands Square Card service to the UK

Published

4 months ago

October 31, 2024

Marco Bello | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON — Block, the payments company owned by tech billionaire Jack Dorsey has launched its corporate card service in the U.K. in a bid to deepen its expansion into the country and take on big incumbents like American Express.

The firm’s business-focused payments arm, Square, told CNBC that it opened registrations for its Square Card product in Britain late Wednesday, marking the first time Block has expanded its business card offering outside North America, where it first launched in 2019.

Currently available in the U.S. and Canada, Square Card is a free business spending card that reduces the time between merchants making a sale and having funds available to spend. It competes with offerings from the likes of American Express and Citigroup.

Samina Hussain-Letch, executive director of Square U.K., said the launch of the firm’s corporate card product in the U.K. would give merchants speedier access to funds and help them more easily manage their daily expenses.

“When designing this product we went back to our mission of making commerce easy,” Hussain-Letch told CNBC. Based on internal research Square found that small and micro businesses “prefer their funds to be consolidated in one place,” she said, adding that real-time access to funds was also an important factor.

In the U.K., Square Card will come up against local banking giants like Lloyds and NatWest. It will also heighten competition for some well-funded European fintech players, including Pleo, Payhawk and Spendesk.

Hussain-Letch highlighted The Vinyl Guys as an example of an early adopter of its corporate card offering. The vehicle branding and signage printing shop based in Stafford used the corporate card as part of a testing phase with domestic U.K. customers.

“We’ve had some great feedback about the benefits of having instant access to funds which really helps our small business sellers to run and grow, as we know that the number one reason small businesses fail in the UK is due to problems with cash flow,” she added.

Merchants can personalize employee spending cards with signatures and business branding.

Once an employee is onboarded onto the Square Card program, they can begin using within their own digital wallet apps. The service doesn’t charge monthly fees, maintenance fees, or foreign exchange fees.

Square is deepening its investment in the U.K. at a time when the country is seeking to be viewed as a destination for global technology businesses.

Entrepreneurs have been warning of a possible exodus of talent from the U.K. in response to the government’s controversial taxation changes.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves hiked Capital Gains Tax (CGT) — a levy on investment profits. But the news offered some relief for technology entrepreneurs who feared a more intense tax raid on the wealthy. The lower capital gains tax rate will be increased to 18% from 10%, while the higher rate will climb to 24% from 20%, Reeves said. The tax hikes are expected to bring in £2.5 billion.

Finance

BRK, HOOD, NKE, PLTR and more

Published

48 minutes ago

February 24, 2025

Business Finance News

Finance

Berkshire advances on surge in earnings, but questions linger about cash

Published

5 hours ago

February 24, 2025

Business Finance News

Warren Buffett walks the floor ahead of the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2024.

David A. Grogen | CNBC

Berkshire Hathaway shares got a boost after Warren Buffett’s conglomerate reported a surge in operating earnings, but shareholders who were waiting for news of what will happen to its enormous pile of cash might be disappointed.

Class A shares of the Omaha-based parent of Geico and BNSF Railway rose 1.2% premarket Monday following Berkshire’s earnings report over the weekend. Berkshire’s operating profit — earnings from the company’s wholly owned businesses — skyrocketed 71% to $14.5 billion in the fourth quarter, aided by insurance underwriting, where profits jumped 302% from the year-earlier period, to $3.4 billion.

Berkshire’s investment gains from its portfolio holdings slowed sharply, however, in the fourth quarter, to $5.2 billion from $29.1 billion in the year-earlier period. Berkshire sold more equities than it bought for a ninth consecutive quarter in the three months of last year, bringing total sale of equities to more than $134 billion in 2024. Notably, the 94-year-old investor has been aggressively shrinking Berkshire’s two largest equity holdings — Apple and Bank of America.

As a result of the selling spree, Berkshire’s gigantic cash pile grew to another record of $334.2 billion, up from $325.2 billion at the end of the third quarter.

In Buffett’s annual letter, the “Oracle of Omaha” said that raising a record amount of cash didn’t reflect a dimming of his love for buying stocks and businesses.

“Despite what some commentators currently view as an extraordinary cash position at Berkshire, the great majority of your money remains in equities,” Buffett wrote. “That preference won’t change.”

He hinted that high valuations were the reason for sitting on his hands amid a raging bull market, saying “often, nothing looks compelling.” Buffett also endorsed the ability of Greg Abek, his chosen successor, to pick equity opportunities, even comparing him to the late Charlie Munger.

Meanwhile, Berkshire’s buyback halt is still in place as the conglomerate repurchased zero shares in the fourth quarter and in the first quarter of this year, through Feb. 10.

Some investors and analysts expressed impatience with the lack of action and continued to wait for an explanation, while others have faith that Buffett’s conservative stance will pave the way for big opportunities in the next downturn.

“Shareholders should take comfort in knowing that the firm continues to be managed to survive and emerge stronger from any economic or market downturn by being in a financial position to take advantage of opportunities during a crisis,” said Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust Company and a Berkshire shareholder.

Berkshire is coming off a strong year, when it rallied 25.5% in 2024, outperforming the S&P 500 — its best since 2021. The stock is up more than 5% so far in 2025.