Block Inc - SQ STOCK NEWS

Square has announced new partnerships and features to support beauty and wellness sellers. Key highlights include:

• A distribution partnership with SalonCentric, allowing beauty professionals to purchase Square Readers in-store and receive promotional pricing for Square Appointments Plus
• New integrations in the Square App Marketplace with SalonInteractive, Vish, Submatic, Pomp, SalonScale, and Glammatic
• Introduction of Packages feature for bulk service purchases
• No-Show Fee by Service and Service Costs (Backbar) features for better business management
• Improvements to online booking experience, including Customized Online Booking and 'Text Us' Button
• New calendar management tools like Color Coded Services and Block Clients

Cash App and Lyft have announced a partnership to integrate Cash App Pay as a payment option for Lyft rides. This collaboration marks Lyft as the first rideshare partner for Cash App Pay, offering digital-first consumers more flexibility in payment methods. The integration allows riders to seamlessly link their Cash App to the Lyft app, enabling them to pay with their Cash App balance or linked debit card without entering card information manually.

This partnership aims to cater to the preferences of younger generations, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, who favor Cash App as a top financial technology platform. The collaboration also provides Lyft access to Cash App's 57 million monthly transacting actives as of Q2 2024, potentially expanding its user base beyond its reported 23.7 million active riders in the same period.

Square has announced the winners of its second annual Square 50 awards program, recognizing 50 businesses that are changing the entrepreneurial landscape. The program received thousands of submissions from countries including the US, Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Japan, Spain, and the UK. Winners were selected based on five categories: Innovation, Growth, Community, Experience, and Sustainability.

Notable honorees include hed11, a fine dining Thai restaurant in San Francisco; Pure Green Franchise, a growing smoothie and juice bar chain; Rejuvv Aesthetics & Wellness, a boutique medical spa in Miami; 321 Coffee, a coffee shop creating employment opportunities for adults with disabilities; and True Gloom Tattoo, a woman-owned tattoo studio in Buffalo.

Square has launched a new Orders Platform in the third quarter of 2024, marking a significant infrastructure shift for the company. This best-in-class commerce platform combines leading payments and ordering capabilities for sellers across the United States. The platform is designed to provide expanded commerce features like Pre-Auth and Bar Tabs to sellers of all sizes and verticals.

The new order-based infrastructure aims to help sellers grow their businesses by enabling them to complete sales anywhere and anyhow, promoting efficient operations and improved customer experiences. Saumil Mehta, Head of Product for Square, emphasized that this platform is a key unlock for innovation and is expected to accelerate product velocity going forward.

With the Orders Platform, Square will offer sellers more checkout flexibility, allowing customers to order ahead, open bar tabs, or set up subscriptions, thus providing more options to capture sales across various business types.

Square's analysis of food and beverage transactions in major metropolitans reveals a shift in consumer spending patterns since the pandemic. While downtown areas with high concentrations of office workers have seen declines, neighborhoods and suburbs are thriving, contributing to local economic growth.

In New York City, areas like Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Bed-Stuy have seen activity levels increase by 20-60% since Q1 2020. Queens, particularly Long Island City and Astoria, has experienced growth between 30-60%. The San Francisco Bay Area shows declines in the Financial District and SoMa, but growth in residential areas and suburbs. Washington, D.C. data indicates significant gains in neighborhoods with increased housing development, such as Navy Yard and NoMa.

Square Research Lead Ara Kharazian emphasizes that while some downtown areas have struggled, the overall small business environment remains healthy, resilient, and strong, highlighting the adaptability of American cities.

Square Financial Services, a subsidiary of Block, Inc., has launched the 24 Squared grant initiative in partnership with the Community Foundation of Utah. This program will award microgrants of at least $2,400 to 24 local nonprofits focused on community development in Utah. The initiative builds on the success of previous years, having provided over $100,000 to Utah-based organizations since 2021.

The grants target nonprofits working in areas such as small business development, affordable housing, reentry support, entrepreneurship, and financial wellness. Applications are open until September 30, 2024, for eligible 501(c)(3) organizations in Utah. This initiative aligns with Block's purpose of economic empowerment and aims to support underserved businesses and communities throughout the state.

TIDAL has launched new tools for US songwriters to manage their catalogs and royalties. The platform now allows songwriters to:

• Claim and manage their works
• Organize IPI, PRO, and publisher information
• Sign up for the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC)
• Register with AllTrack PRO
• View and categorize their works
• Use collaborative split sheets
• Invite team members to help manage works
• Manage credits and metadata

This comprehensive approach aims to simplify the complex process of royalty collection and catalog management, addressing the challenges songwriters face in the current music industry landscape.

Square's latest Quarterly Restaurant Report reveals key trends in the food and beverage industry. Service fees are becoming more common, with 3.7% of restaurant transactions including them in Q2 2024, more than doubling since early 2022. Restaurant worker wages continue to outpace inflation, with average hourly earnings up 4.10% compared to the 2.98% inflation rate as of July 2024.

The report also highlights changes in nightlife activity across major cities. Boston has seen the most significant growth, with late-night transactions increasing from 12% in Q2 2019 to 31% in 2024. Richmond and Philadelphia have also experienced notable rebounds in nightlife activity.

In Washington D.C., restaurant activity has shifted, with increased traffic in developing neighborhoods like Navy Yard and NoMa, while areas east of The Potomac River have seen declines. These trends reflect the impact of remote work, revitalization efforts, and changing urban dynamics on the restaurant industry.

Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) has released its financial results for the second quarter of 2024. The company has made these results available on the Financials section of its Investor Relations website at investors.block.xyz and has also filed them with the Securities and Exchange Commission. To discuss these financial results, Block will be hosting a conference call and earnings webcast at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time/5:00 p.m. Eastern Time today. Interested parties can register for the conference call by visiting the Events & Presentations section of Block's Investor Relations website.