Good morning,
In March, when I interviewed Square CFO Amrita Ahuja for the first edition of CFO Daily, she told me, “there’s absolutely a case for every balance sheet to have Bitcoin on it.” At Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Ahuja referred to that sentiment. “At the time, it was about 5% of our cash reserves that we invested in Bitcoin,” she said. The finance chief talked cryptocurrencies and M&A at the summit.
In Q2 of 2021, the payment services company generated gross profit of $1.14 billion, up 91% year over year, and its Cash App generated gross profit of $546 million, up 94% year over year, according to results announced in August. But, as we know, Bitcoin’s value has been historically volatile. “In the fourth quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2021, we invested $50 million and $170 million, respectively, in Bitcoin,” according to Square’s report. The company said it experienced a Bitcoin-impairment loss of $45 million on its investment. Square will announce Q3 results on November 4.
But the tech company is continuing to navigate the volatility as it is resolute that crypto can “bring efficiency to the information system,” Ahuja said. “When you think about how money moves from market to market today, how it moves across borders … it’s inefficient from a security [and] cost perspective,” Ahuja explained. “And that’s often taxed at the highest rate to the communities that are underserved.”
Crypto and its supporting technologies can improve efficiency, she said. If you compare the speed of the Internet to the speed of fiat currency, “it seems highly probable that the Internet will have a native currency,” Ahuja said. “We believe, at Square, that Bitcoin has the opportunity to be the strongest contender in being the native currency of the Internet,” she said. It has a strong brand, it is decentralized, and has been “battle tested,” she said. Square CEO Jack Dorsey said on Twitter in July that the company is building an “open developer platform” based on Bitcoin to provide “non-custodial” and “decentralized financial services.”
In August, Square announced its $29 billion acquisition of Afterpay Ltd., a buy-now-pay-later processor. “We use M&A to accelerate what we see as long-term strategies, or to get into new verticals,” Ahuja explained. Afterpay provides the opportunity speed up “our shift to omni channel, and into e-commerce, to be more global … and to really serve the next wave of consumers who want to be served in a more fair and inclusive way,” she said.
See you tomorrow.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Big deal
A survey published on October 13 by Finite State, a product security company, and conducted by the Ponemon Institute, examined a growing need to strengthen the security of connected devices. About 59% of executives with cybersecurity decision-making responsibility at large and mid-sized companies said they've lost business due to product security concern. Respondents cited obstacles to securing the Internet of Things (IoT), physical devices that are connected to the Internet, including lack of resources (62%). The majority (74%) of respondents said their companies either have or plan to hire a chief product security officer within the next two years. The findings are based on a survey of 632 product security decision makers.
Going deeper
A report published on October 12 in Harvard Business Review explores redesigning work in ways that promote employee health and well-being. In collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the authors assessed research on workplace conditions that affect employee well-being and created a “work design for health” framework and toolkit.
Leaderboard
Adam B. Kroll was named EVP and CFO at Lordstown Motors Corp., effective October 25. Kroll will replace Rebecca Roof, interim CFO who will remain with the company in a transition role through December 31. Kroll brings to Lordstown Motors nearly 25 years of financial, operational and capital markets experience. He previously served as an investment banker at JP Morgan. Kroll also served as chief administrative officer for Hyzon Motors, interim CFO for UPG Enterprises and SVP of finance for PSAV Holdings.
Melissa Thomas was named EVP and CFO at Cinemark Holdings, Inc., a global movie theatre company, effective November 8. Thomas will succeed Sean Gamble, who was promoted to president on July 28, and will be named CEO on Jan. 1, 2022, upon the retirement of Mark Zoradi. Thomas joins Cinemark after serving as CFO for Groupon since 2019. Prior to her appointment as CFO, she served as Groupon’s chief accounting officer and treasurer, and VP of commercial finance prior to that. Before joining Groupon, Thomas held a diverse range of senior finance positions within Surgical Care Affiliates and Orbitz.
Overheard
“We have become a country of people without jobs, and jobs without people.”
—Suzanne Clark, president and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as told to Fortune.
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