The payments firm Square has agreed to acquire Weebly. Square will pay a mix of cash and stock of approximately $365 million, which includes Square restricted stock units for Weebly’s founders and employees that will vest over four years. Weebly is a service that provides customers with tools to easily build a professional website or online store.
It marks a new horizon for Square as it moves into the realms of online shopping and ecommerce as more than a payments processor.
We share a passion for empowering and celebrating entrepreneurs. Square began its journey with in-person solutions while Weebly began its journey online. Since then, we’ve both been building services to bridge these channels, and we can go even further and faster together.
– Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square
Entrepreneurship gives an opportunity to people who were never given one. Weebly has created technology that helps people bring their business idea to life online. Now, we will be expanding that vision to help entrepreneurs succeed beyond their website. I’m excited for Weebly to join Square and help build the future of commerce together.
– David Rusenko, CEO of Weebly
The buy-out will expand Square’s customer base globally and add a new recurring revenue stream. Weebly has millions of customers and more than 625,000 paid subscribers. Square will provide Weebly customers with access to the company’s ecosystem of managed payments, hardware, and software, which complement their services, which include free website hosting, premium (paid) website design and hosting, online store, and marketing tools. Nearly 40% of Weebly’s paid subscribers are outside the US, which they claim will help accelerate Square’s global expansion.
What is the rationale here? Clearly the international expansion outside of the USA is crucial. But it is a big expense just to expand their customer base. Perhaps the ambitions oaf Square are bigger than just payments and they want to become a fully fledged ecommerce firm.
