Square And Google Were Not In Acquisition Talks

The WSJ is reporting tonight that payments company Square was in acquisition talks with Google. We’re hearing from multiple sources close to both companies that these talks did not in fact take place in any serious capacity.

Co-founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Square has raised over $300 million in funding from top tier investors like Khosla, Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins; and is valued in the billions.

But payments, especially at the point of sale, is a tough industry to reign supreme and the company has faced a number of speedbumps and challenges. Most recently, Square just secured a line of credit around $200 million, after putting IPO plans on hold. The WSJ story describes this $200 million line of credit as “more than $100 million.”

We heard from one source that Square was actually shopping itself around, and met with M&A executives from number of companies in the process, including Don Harrison at Google.

The WSJ is also reporting that the company was in talks with PayPal and Apple. We’ve heard that the latter would be more likely to seal the deal with Square than Google, given Dorsey’s deep-seated admiration for all things Apple.

The Information’s Jessica Lessin recently reported that Google did consider Square as a potential M&A target. But none of the meetings the payments company had with Google amounted to actual acquisition talks, we’re told, just “a two minute meet and greet.”

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Square denied that it was in acquisition talks with Google, as they did to the WSJ before it published its story.

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