Square Expected To Go Public This Year

Square CEO Jack Dorsey (Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images)

By Ryan Mac, Miguel Helft and Alex Konrad

Square, the San Francisco-based mobile payments company, is expected to go public this year, sources familiar with the company told FORBES. It’s unclear whether the company has already filed its initial public offering registration documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but those sources indicated that if it hasn’t happened, it will likely happen soon.

“The plan is to do it this year,” a person familiar with the matter said regarding an IPO. The person said Square planned to file a “confidential” registration statement. “It’s going to happen soon, if it hasn’t happened already,” the person added. “There has been some internal debate about the ideal timing.”

Under current laws, s0-called “emerging growing companies” can confidentially file to go public under the JOBS Act if they have less than $1 billion in annual revenue and meet other requirements. The JOBS Act allows companies to secretly explore the possibility of going public and has less rigorous financial disclosure requirements when compared to the traditional IPO route.

The revelation of Square’s plans comes during a week after its cofounder and CEO  Jack Dorsey was named interim CEO of Twitter Twitter, following the resignation of CEO Dick Costolo. Dorsey is Twitter’s chairman and helped cofound the company, and there was some speculation that he could possibly assume the head Twitter job on a full-time basis and leave his post at Square. A Square IPO this year would make such a move less likely, and Forbes reported Friday that the leading candidate for the job is Adam Bain.

“I am grateful for the talented team at Square, which I will continue to lead,” Dorsey said in a press release on Thursday. “We have built a very strong company from top to bottom, and I am as committed as ever to its continued success.”

Though there is no clarity on what Dorsey will do, sources close to the company said that he and his executive team are planning on taking Square public before the end of the year. Last August, the company denied in a now-deleted blog post that it was in potential acquisition talks or that it had delayed plans for a 2014 IPO.

Square spokesperson Aaron Zamost declined to comment.

Earlier this week, Square launched a new credit card and phone reader that’s designed to allow businesses to accept Apple Apple Pay and new EMV chip credit cards. Those readers will be shipped to businesses in the fall.

Follow me on Twitter at @RMac18 or email me at rmac@forbes.com.