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New Theory About Visa’s Investment In Square: Visa Really Is After Twitter

Written by Evan Schuman
May 4th, 2011

When Square simultaneously accepted a hefty Visa investment and then reversed course to match Visa’s position last week, many observers were trying to make sense of the move. What made Square so attractive to Visa? One industry observer—longtime payments power-player John B. Frank—has an interesting, albeit non-traditional, take. He argues that Visa’s affection for Square has little to do with Square and everything to do with Twitter. Indeed, Frank’s argument is that it was all about Jack Dorsey (Twitter Founder/Executive Chairman and Square Founder/CEO) and his ability to make Twitter deals happen.

“Shout out to Verifone: If it makes you feel any better, I’ve got a feeling, that Visa isn’t as interested in Square as they are in Twitter’s 200 million base,” Frank penned. “If Goliath was going to invest in David, why not a David with a PCI-certified personal POS? It’s because David isn’t really David after all. David is Goliath. Square is Jack Dorsey and Jack Dorsey is again Twitter. It’s all about P2P (person-to-person money movement) and this is Visa making a brilliant P2P investment/move.” Not so sure I buy into this very original theory, because I don’t see Visa connecting the dots with Twitter that aggressively—yet. Still, if it’s wacky and conspiratorial and it involves Silicon Valley today, well, it’s hardly wise to rule it out.

Posted in E-Commerce, In-Store, IT Strategy/Industry, Mobile/Wireless/Contactless, Payment Systems, Security/Fraud, Social Networks, Software
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