Block / Afterpay 2022
Block acquired Afterpay for $29B on August 1, 2021.
- Target
- Afterpay
- Acquirer
- Block
- Deal value
- $29B
- Deal type
- Stock
- Announced
- August 1, 2021
- Sub-sector
- Lending
Transaction overview
- Block announced the acquisition of Afterpay on August 1, 2021, in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $29 billion.
- Afterpay shareholders received 0.114 Block shares per Afterpay share, implying A$126.21 per share at announcement.
- The deal closed on January 31, 2022, after receiving regulatory and shareholder approvals.
- Afterpay is an Australian buy-now-pay-later company founded in 2014, offering instalment payment products to consumers and merchants.
- Afterpay reported approximately 16 million active customers and 100,000 merchants globally at the time of announcement.
- Block operates the Square merchant payments platform and the Cash App consumer financial product in the United States.
- Block intended to integrate Afterpay into both Square and Cash App, connecting merchants and consumers through its existing platforms.
Why it matters
- The $29 billion price tag made it the largest-ever acquisition of an Australian technology company at the time of announcement.
- The deal accelerated consolidation in the buy-now-pay-later sector, which was attracting competition from PayPal, Apple, and major banks.
Strategic rationale
Block (Square) buys global BNPL leader to integrate buy-now-pay-later across Square Sellers and Cash App, marking peak BNPL M&A pricing.
Deal terms & multiples
About Afterpay
Afterpay is an Australian fintech company founded in 2014 and headquartered in Melbourne. It offers a buy-now-pay-later product that splits purchases into four fortnightly instalments, interest-free for consumers who pay on time. Merchants pay a fee per transaction in exchange for access to Afterpay's consumer base. By mid-2021, the company had expanded from Australia into the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand.
- Founded
- 2014
- HQ
- Australia
- Prior funding
- Afterpay was publicly listed on the ASX (ticker: APT); it raised capital through equity markets rather than private funding rounds.
- Key metric
- ~16 million active consumers and ~100,000 merchants globally as of mid-2021
About Block NYSE: SQ
Block, Inc. (formerly Square) is a San Francisco-based financial technology company founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey. Its Square business provides point-of-sale hardware and software to small and medium-sized merchants. Cash App, its consumer product, offers peer-to-peer payments, debit cards, stock trading, and Bitcoin buying to individual users. Block changed its name from Square to Block in December 2021, shortly before the Afterpay deal closed.
- Founded
- 2009
- Ticker
- NYSE: SQ
Frequently asked questions
How much did Block pay for Afterpay?
Block paid approximately $29 billion in an all-stock transaction, using 0.114 Block shares per Afterpay share.
When did the Block Afterpay deal close?
The acquisition closed on January 31, 2022, roughly six months after the August 2021 announcement.
Why did Block acquire Afterpay?
Block planned to embed Afterpay's instalment product into Square's merchant platform and Cash App's consumer product, connecting both sides of its existing ecosystem.
Was the Block Afterpay deal the largest Australian tech acquisition ever?
At announcement in August 2021, the $29 billion deal was widely reported as the largest acquisition of an Australian technology company on record.
What happened to Afterpay's ASX listing after the deal?
Afterpay was delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange after the deal closed, with former shareholders receiving Block Class A shares.
What is buy-now-pay-later and how did Afterpay work?
Buy-now-pay-later splits a purchase into instalments; Afterpay used four fortnightly payments, interest-free for consumers, funded by merchant transaction fees.
Sources
- accc.gov.au /system/files/public-registers/documents/Annexure%2090%20-%20Afterpay%20F21%20Annual%20Report%20-%2002.12.22%20-%20PR%20-%20MA1000023%20ANZ%20Suncorp.pdf