This is a quote about Square that I received in an email I received from a friend, Taylor Thomas, who also happens to be a Financial Advisor and a Principal at South Shore Capital Advisors (Cohasset, Mass). I thought it was a brilliant and very useful analysis, and it relieved any last worries that I had. Here it is (with his permission):
"…She seemed to be really smart and a great communicator, and certainly a trusted long time associate of the CEO, who is CEO of two companies and really needs senior people that he can rely on. Maybe, however, it is a necessary step in the evolution of the company.
"Square has a really first rate board member leading the search for her successor. David Viniar was CEO of Goldman Sachs from 1999 to 2013 during which time he navigated the financial crisis and led their significant expansion which included pursuing a bank charter and dealing a lot with regulators.
“As Square grows and establishes itself in the payments business, given their status as a non bank financial they may be ready for a CFO who has led that type of an entity - regulated as a bank at least in parts, needing to access different types of capital such as establishing a treasury function and so on. Viniar was great on the Goldman calls during the crisis. He is hugely respected by Wall Street and he undoubtedly has first rate contacts in government that enable the lines of communication to be strong as needed. So I think it will result in finding someone ultra qualified to take on that role.”
(Saul here again) I was really impressed.
Saul