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Twitter's returning CEO is reportedly planning layoffs
Twitter's 'new' permanent CEO only took the reins five days ago, but he already appears bent on cleaning house. Sources for both the New York Times and Recode understand that Jack Dorsey is planning layoffs that could start as soon as October 13th. While it's unclear how many people will lose their jobs, Recode understands that this is part of an attempt to streamline an engineering team that has become "bloated." Tipsters had already claimed that Twitter was freezing the expansion of its San Francisco headquarters, but Dorsey would be taking that cost-cutting to a new level.
Jack Dorsey is back in charge of Twitter
Jack Dorsey has announced that he is re-taking the reins of the social network that he helped build. Dorsey had been the interim CEO since it was announced that previous CEO Dick Costolo was stepping down in June of this year. Twitter created a search committee after Costolo's departure that included former Twitter CEO, Evan Williams, to find a new boss. Turns out that the figure was there, all the time. In addition, Dorsey will remain as CEO of Square, the mobile-payments firm he founded when he left Twitter. This will be Dorsey's second term as CEO, the first abruptly ending in 2008 when he was replaced as CEO by Ev Williams.
Twitter is making more money while signing up fewer users
Twitter's got a new temporary boss in Jack Dorsey (who's actually the old boss) while it continues to search for a replacement for ex-CEO Dick Costolo as it dropped its second quarter earnings today. The bright spot is that its second quarter revenue was $502 million, a 61-percent year-over-year increase from last year. But the CEO switcheroo didn't do much to supercharge Twitter's monthly active users. The social network's users only grew slightly from its first quarter number 308 million to 316 million this quarter which is a 15 percent increase from last year at this time. These numbers include SMS Fast Followers who Twitter did not include in its user numbers last quarter.
Twitter swaps CEOs again, Jack Dorsey takes over temporarily
Twitter's stock slid significantly in April when its earnings report leaked out early, and in a likely-related move, now it's changing CEOs. Dick Costolo is out (at left in the picture above, taken during the company's IPO), although he will remain on the company's board, while founder, chairman, first user and former CEO Jack Dorsey (at right) is taking over again on an interim basis. He will stay on as CEO at Square while a search committee -- including yet another former Twitter CEO, Evan Williams -- searches for a permanent replacement. Of course, that the report leaked isn't the problem, it's the user growth, which couldn't match other social network stars like Instagram. Investor Chris Sacca recently published a lengthy blog post about "what Twitter could be" and despite a number of changes over the last year, it appears many of the folks owning shares had different ideas than its (as of July 1st) former leader. Update: According to Costolo (on a conference call) he initiated discussions with the board about stepping down "late last year." Jack Dorsey followed up by stating that the change has "no connection" to the company's near term results.
Twitter, Square cofounder Jack Dorsey joins Disney board of directors
Twitter and Square cofounder Jack Dorsey is the newest member of Disney's board of directors. The Mickey Mouse company announced as much on Monday afternoon, and said he's acting as an independent director "effective immediately." The man better known as @jack -- Twitter's first human user and its standing executive chairman -- tweeted a quote from Disney's founding father, Walt, to commemorate the announcement: "I only hope we don't lose sight of one thing -- that it was all started by a mouse." Dorsey will bring his entrepreneurial and technological perspective to Disney. Company head Bob Iger said of the appointment, "The perspective he brings to Disney and its Board is extremely valuable, given our strategic priorities, which include utilizing the latest technologies and platforms to reach more people and to enhance the relationship we have with our customers."
Square brings its mobile payments service to Japan
Jack Dorsey's little card reader that could TM has made its first journey beyond continental North America, and is now available in Japan. In order to make the leap, Square has teamed up with Sumitomo Mitsui Card Corporation, the business that introduced Visa to the country. The transaction rate for the service is 3.25 percent, up half a percent from the 2.75 percent payable in North America and Canada. It's been a long time coming, considering that PayPal Here arrived in Japan over a year ago -- but hopefully now the pair can slug it out in the streets of Tokyo, Super Sentai style.
Gates, Zuck and crew entice kids into programming through a short film
Kids in many parts of the world are growing up surrounded with technology, some from a very tender age. Many schools aren't teaching much if any programming, though, which has led Code.org to make a short film spurring young techies into action. We have a hunch that it might work -- the video has quite possibly the most star-studded collection of men and women explaining how they got into coding and why they like it, including Bill Gates, Gabe Newell and Mark Zuckerberg. There's even endorsements from unexpected sources, such as Miami Heat player Chris Bosh. It's true that most of them have a vested interest in creating future employees, but they collectively raise the real concern that there's a deficit of software and web developers. Catch the full feature after the break if you're looking to persuade a curious child.
Square reaches $10 billion in payments per year, stays ahead of a growing pack
It was just this spring that Square had reached a grandiose $5 billion per year payment rate and cemented its position at the top of the mobile payment processing field it practically started. Any attempts to catch up just got a lot harder now that the startup has crossed the $10 billion mark, only half a year later. A fifth of that new rate came in the past two months and hints that the company isn't about to slow down anytime soon. The increase doesn't have any clear driver, apart from wider media exposure, but founder Jack Dorsey notes that this doesn't include the Starbucks deal that took effect just days ago. We know the rocket-like pace won't last forever; all the same, the record-high levels of business undoubtedly give Square a lot of competitive padding when a deluge of recently established alternatives are still getting started.
Starbucks switches to Square for payments, invests $25 million and will support Pay with Square
While Square's mobile payment processing platform has already picked up some major players in retail to go along with more than a million small businesses, its biggest shot in the arm to date is a new partnership with Starbucks. The chain will use Square to process credit card payments in nearly 7,000 US locations along with investing $25 million in the company, while Starbucks president, chairman and CEO Howard Shulz is joining its Board of Directors. Also notable for Square is that this fall Starbucks will be pushing features like its Pay with Square app that lets customers pay via iOS and Android apps, as well as the Square Directory of local businesses. In a letter, Square CEO Jack Dorsey pushed the platform as a way enhance local businesses and communities, but we'll see how friendly your local coffeeshop employees are when a familiar green logo shares their payment processor.
Square's perimeter gets larger, now sold at UPS and OfficeMax locations
What's a company to do once it grabs a million merchants? Grab a million more, naturally. Following an online rollout and a wider spread to Apple Stores, Jack Dorsey's own Square is expanding to OfficeMax and UPS locations. A couple of months back, the outfit announced that it was handling some $11 million in payments per day (a wild increase from $4 million per day in July), and with the new agreements, Square payment devices are being sold at 10,000 retail locations. The hardware itself will sell for $9.99 in stores, but each buyer can redeem a $10 credit to their bank account. Beyond this? It's reportedly hoping to "upgrade the experience of running a business, end-to-end, on the iPad," with the outfit adding "in-depth merchant analytics to its iPad experience, allowing merchants to access information about which inventory is selling well, and what they can do to help make more money." Oh, and in case you couldn't guess, Square's also looking to staff up even more to tackle all of 2012's goals -- three cheers for job creation, yeah?
Square snags one million merchants, liberates the cashless
For those of us addicted to plastic, "I love you" hardly holds the same clout as those three magical words: "we accept credit." Taking the dream one step closer to plastic payment monogamy is the mobile checkout service, Square. According to founder Jack Dorsey, the company has hit a milestone today, signing up over one million small business owners ready to swipe. For merchants, all it takes is a Square reader and an iPhone, iPad or Android to start processing the plastic of the cash-o-phobic -- practically rendering those ATM pit stops pre-taco run or flea market excursion useless.
Square makes a larger mark on the brick-and-mortar scene, available in more outlets
Best Buy, Target, Walmart, The Shack, Apple. All of the above are now proudly selling the Square credit card reader, according to a tweet sent out by CEO Jack Dorsey. It's great news for anyone willing to shell out a ten-spot in order to conduct business from their iOS device right away, rather than waiting between two and five days for a free one to show up in the mail. If you need one today, you'd best be calling up your local retail outlet to make sure they have some in stock.
VeriFone's new Payware Mobile Enterprise for Tablets looks a little Square
VeriFone added a new wrinkle to its ongoing battle for mobile payment supremacy yesterday, with the announcement of Payware Mobile Enterprise for Tablets -- a peripheral that will allow retailers to process transactions directly from any slate. Much like the company's Payware Mobile system, VeriFone's latest product involves a magnetic card reader and accompanying app that can turn any iPad or Android tablet into a handheld checkout unit. Geared toward larger enterprises, the new device also supports PIN verification for debit cards and NFC payments, rendering it compatible with Google Wallet, though it likely won't see a widespread release until 2012. Perhaps more intriguing is what this move could mean for the company's notoriously heated rivalry with Square. By explicitly targeting bigger retailers, VeriFone seems to be distinguishing itself from the small business-focused Square, despite the fact that its new product looks a lot like one of Jack Dorsey's creations -- or, as some CEOs would call them, "skimming devices."
Square's name, design influenced by a meeting at Apple
For a while now it's been known that the popular iPhone credit card payment system known as Square was originally known by a different name and had a very different look. The familiar white plastic square-shaped plug-in dongle was originally made of wood and shaped like an acorn (no joke) and its name was "Squirrel." However, the current name and shape of the credit card reader we all know and love came about after Square CEO Jack Dorsey had a lunch at Apple's Caffé Macs. On Wednesday night, according to TNW, Dorsey told the attendees of San Francisco's Commonwealth Club, where he was accepting the 21st Century Visionary award, that he was set on the "Squirrel" name until he was having lunch with Apple's senior vice president of iPhone Software Scott Forstall. Dorsey noticed that the point-of-sale system used in Caffé Macs was from Squirrel Systems so he had to change the name of his device. While Dorsey didn't say Forstall had anything to do with the change of the dongle's shape, it's easy to assume that the Apple's SVP took one look at the wooden acorn and said "I have a better idea." Square first launched in 2010 and just a few days ago announced that it has shipped 500,000 Square card readers and processed 1 million transactions in May to the tune of about US$3 million worth of mobile payments a day.
Square Register and Card Case hands-on
It looks like Square's little headphone jack-connected credit card reader has some company. The mobile payment startup introduced two new additions to its unique stable of payment options in San Francisco this morning that do away with credit cards, paper receipts, and even the bantam reader itself (to some degree). First up is the Square Register, an app that allows merchants to accept payments by way of the card reader or through a card-less (no, it's not NFC) tab -- like, "put it on my tab" -- system, and uses Google-style analytics to keep track of payments, receipts, and trends. The second announcement, the Square Card Case, is a virtual wallet that holds a series of "cards," each relating to a participating outlet, that let you put your purchases on the aforementioned tab. Each shop has its own virtual credit card, and enables shoppers to make and track purchases with a single click of a button. We got a chance to give the setup a try, and it's just about as simple as Square would have you believe. To get started, you make a regular, Square-enabled purchase at a participating store, at which point a text-message receipt is sent to your phone that prompts you to install Card Case -- we skipped this step, as this was just a demo. Once set up, we were introduced to the Card Case, holding cards for the participating stores -- only 50 spots in five cities, for now -- and an "Explore Places" button that offers access to a directory of participating outlets. We selected a nearby cupcake stand, clicked "open tab" and picked our poison: a miniature red velvet cupcake, in this case. The merchant picked our name from a list of open tabs, charged the tiny treat to our card, and a receipt was promptly pushed our way. After the transaction was complete, we went back to the cupcake card in the Card Case, and there was the receipt. All in all it was a painless process, but, then, so is whipping out a real wallet to make a purchase. The new Square setup is available now at 50 different establishments in New York, LA, Saint Louis, San Francisco, and DC, and the company says it will curate the list of participating stores, much like Apple does apps.
Square and Apple have plans for Monday
If you follow @jack, otherwise known as Twitter co-founder and current Square CEO Jack Dorsey, then you'll know that at about 2 PM EDT today, he tweeted the cryptic Instagram (a company he's invested in) message and photo shown at right. A square with apples in it -- that's pretty obvious there, Jack. Square card readers are currently selling in Apple retail stores, but it appears that there's more to the story. The company has a press conference scheduled for 10 AM PDT at its headquarters in San Francisco, and Dorsey's hint looks like a not-so-subtle message that the two companies are going to announce something big. I speculated yesterday that Apple could be planning to use Square card readers with the Apple Retail iPads that are being rolled out, or perhaps Square and Apple have other plans up their respective sleeves. Fortunately, the announcement is just two days away and not life-changing, so we can all rest easy over this beautiful spring (or fall in the Southern Hemisphere) weekend.
Square to add encryption to mobile card reader, skimmers put on notice
It's only been a couple days since we first heard about Visa's involvement with Square, but the credit card giant is already making its mark on the mobile payment startup. At the Visa Global Security Summit on Wednesday, Square Security Lead Sam Quigley revealed that the company will distribute an encrypted card reader this summer, which will work exclusively with its mobile payment app. The current reader theoretically scans credit card data to any app, but the encrypted version will only work with Square, which should alleviate VeriFone's concern that the company was essentially distributing "card skimmers" to anyone with a social security number. Luckily, the new encrypted reader will remain free, giving Square a colossal advantage over VeriFone's Payware Mobile product, which carries a $49 activation fee, in addition to standard merchant fees. Not to mention, it isn't available in white.
Square gets financial backing from Visa, asks to see some ID
Everything's coming up Jack Dorsey these days. Last week Apple started stocking Square's iPhone credit card readers in its 235 US retail locations, and now, according to Reuters, Visa has put its plastic where its mouth is. The credit card giant has invested in the personal payments startup, scoring itself a spot on Square's advisory board in the process. No word on how much Visa is actually dropping on the company, but one thing stands to reason: it probably didn't make the deposit via Verifone. If you would like to invest in a Square reader, it'll cost you a lot less -- the company is still offering smartphone plug-ins for free on its site.
Square's Jack Dorsey calls VeriFone's vulnerability claims 'not fair or accurate'
We had a feeling that Square wouldn't let VeriFone call it out without issuing some sort of statement, and CEO Jack Dorsey has responded to the claims of a gaping security hole in the form of an open letter on the company's website. Dorsey calls its competitor's accusations "not fair or accurate" and says that many of the necessary security measures are already built-in to your credit card itself. He also points out that this sort of credit card number thievery is possible every time you hand your plastic over to a waiter or salesperson, and that its partner bank, JPMorgan Chase, stands behinds all aspects of the service. To us, it seems like Verifone is more than a little scared at the prospect of Square undercutting its fees and potentially upending the POS business -- but we're just theorizing. One thing is for sure though, we'll be hearing a lot more about this as the mobile payment war heats up in the future.
Square iPhone payment system gets itself a website, showcased in public
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and the quiet startup formerly known as Squirrel are finally opening up a bit. The company now called Square, as we noted back in October, has launched a website for its iPhone payment dongle, although it's still in somewhat private beta testing. TechCrunch managed to catch up with Dorsey, who gave a brief overview of the product and then showed it off by charging $4 for a cup of coffee -- so it goes in San Francisco. See Square in action after the break.
