On Wednesday, the Block executives, on its first investor day in five years, agreed that the company no longer wants to be seen as only a payment platform.
The firm based in San Francisco held its investor day on Wednesday and made its case to Wall Street that its money app, Crypto, and music-streaming businesses should be valued as an “ecosystem.”
“Calling Block a payment company is like calling Amazon a bookseller. And we’ve grown in so many different ways across multiple dimensions.” CFO Amrita Ahuja noted to CNBC in an interview.
Also, Jack Dorsey, the CEO, and co-founder, who kicked off the meeting’s presentation, said that it’s hard to fit a firm like Block into one category.
According to Dorsey, “We are no longer just a payment company. A lot has changed since our last investor day.”
Block, which was formerly called Square, was created in 2009. It made its name by establishing credit card readers for mobile phones.
The firm grew its scope to peer-2-peer payments and bank-related products using Cash App. Also, the company bought Tidal, Jay-Z’s music streaming service, and Afterpay.
Block equally runs an FDIC-insured bank and provides stock and Crypto trading.
The company’s corporate renaming to Block is designed to reflect the widening aperture and plans on blockchain and Crypto.
While Fintechs was performing well during the pandemic, Block and its counterparts have been expanding in 2022 amidst growing interest rates.
For instance, ARK’s Fintech Innovation ETF fell by 55% year to date, while Block has fallen by 45% in 2022.
Block is growing its profits
The Block’s CFO Ahuja disclosed that the firm is outperforming its counterparts on profitability. The firm announced updated profit margins on Wednesday.
According to the firm, the adjusted profit margins for Block last year was 34%. 12% is for Cash App. And based on the pure expansion side, Cash App presently has 46 million monthly active users plus 80 million annual active users as of March 2022.
This record prompted Ahuja to remark, “You can see based on our track record we are outgrowing the rest of the industry. We operate in a large and growing market and are still taking share.”
It’s good to recall that Block closed a $29 billion deal to purchase an Australian fintech firm Afterpay in early 2022 as it ventured into the installment loan market.
Block also bought Tidal, Jay-Z’s music streaming business, for $300 million in 2021.
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