Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ) shares pulled back on Thursday after the company announced that there would be big changes at the top. Specifically, the chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, is stepping down from this role in order to accept an offer to become the chief executive officer of Nextdoor.
In the meantime, David Viniar, Square’s lead independent director, former CFO of Goldman Sachs and current member of its board of directors, will lead the search for a new CFO. Friar will stay at Square into December to ensure an orderly transition.
Excluding Thursday’s move, Square has vastly outperformed the broad markets, with its stock up about 147% in the past 52 weeks. In just 2018 alone, the stock is up 123%.
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square, commented:
As Square’s CFO, Sarah steered us through an IPO and helped build a growing ecosystem of businesses that will scale into the future. Sarah leaves us having established a culture of entrepreneurship and discipline across the entire company. She has been an amazing leader, partner, and friend, and we are grateful for all she’s done for Square.
Friar added:
These past six years at Square have been an incredible journey. It is rare to work at a company that aligns such a meaningful purpose with unbounded market opportunity. It has been a privilege to work with such a talented executive team, who pushed me and the company to move further and faster every day.
Shares of Square were last seen down 10% at $69.80, with a consensus analyst price target of $81.48 and a 52-week trading range of $31.44 to $101.15.
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