Square, Inc.
Dorsey in 2018
Main article: Square, Inc.
Dorsey, along with co-founder Jim McKelvey, developed a small business platform to accept debit and credit card payments on a mobile device called Square, released in May 2010. The small, square-shaped device attaches to iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or Android devices via the headphone jack, and as a mini card reader, allows a person to swipe their card, choose an amount to transfer to the recipient and then sign their name for confirmation. Square is also a system for sending paperless receipts via text message or email, and is available as a free app for iOS and Android OS. The company grew from 10 employees in December 2009 to over 100 by June 2011. Square's office is on Market Street in San Francisco. In September 2012, Business Insider magazine valued Square Inc. at US$3.2 billion. Dorsey is CEO of Square, Inc. On October 14, 2015, Square filed for an IPO to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. As of that date, Dorsey owned 24.4 percent of the company. In March 2020 the FDIC permitted Square to open a bank. It announced plans to launch Square Financial Services in 2021.
In May 2020, Dorsey extended to Square employees the same offer he made to those at Twitter, the option to work from home permanently.
In 2020, Square began withholding for months up to 30 percent of the funds that merchants collected from customers using its Cash App.
Other projects
In 2013, Dorsey expressed to CNN an admiration for Michael Bloomberg, and said that he aspires to become mayor of New York City. He served as a judge for Bloomberg's NYC BigApps competition in 2011.
Dorsey was announced as a new member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company on December 24, 2013. January 2018, it was reported that Dorsey would not seek reelection at Disney's March annual meeting, due to increased difficulty with conflicts of interest.
Dorsey is a board member of the Berggruen Institute's Governance Center. Dorsey gives advice in a chapter of Tim Ferriss' book Tools of Titans.
Personal life
In 2012, Dorsey moved to the Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco.
Meditation
In late 2017, Dorsey completed ten days of meditation known as Vipassanā taught by followers of S. N. Goenka. In November 2018, Dorsey went on a birthday Vipassanā meditation trip to Myanmar.
Politics
In 2019, Dorsey contributed financially to the campaigns of Democratic 2020 presidential candidates Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang.
In 2020, he donated $15 million to 29 mayors pursuing the piloting of guaranteed basic income programs in the United States.
Until 2021, Dorsey applied "world leader" exceptions that enabled President Donald Trump to post content on Twitter that would normally be removed or generate sanctions per the platform's rules. In May 2020, some of Trump's tweets received warning labels, and from Election Day in November 2020, more flaggings were applied to his tweets. On January 6, 2021, after pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Twitter applied a 12-hour timeout to Trump's account for violating its Civic Integrity policy. Trump's account was suspended permanently on January 8. On January 14, Dorsey defended banning Trump, but also said it "sets a precedent I feel is dangerous."
Philanthropic and other donations
In March 2016, Dorsey fully funded about 600 Missouri public school projects registered at DonorsChoose.
In October 2019, Dorsey donated $350,000 to #TeamTrees, a nonprofit started by YouTuber MrBeast that pledged to plant 20 million trees by the end of 2019.
On April 7, 2020, Dorsey announced that he will move about $1 billion of his equity in Square, Inc., just under a third of his total wealth, to Start Small, LLC, and to relief programs related to the coronavirus. He committed to funding COVID-19 relief, girls' education and health, and universal basic income. Dorsey has donated $24 million to over 40 different grantees for relief efforts.
In August 2020, Dorsey donated $10 million to Boston University's Center for Antiracist Research, founded by Ibram X. Kendi.
In May 2021, he donated $15 million in his personal capacity to support relief efforts in India's COVID-19 second wave. The three NGOs were Care ($10 million), Aid India ($2.5 million), and Sewa International ($2.5 million).
Awards and recognition
In 2008, he was named to the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35.
In 2012, The Wall Street Journal gave him the "Innovator of the Year Award" for technology.
At the 5th Annual Crunchies Awards in 2012, hosted by TechCrunch, Dorsey was named Founder of the Year.
In 2013, he was considered by Forbes the world's most eligible bachelor.
Dorsey was ranked by Fox Business as the #4 Worst CEO of 2016, citing stagnant growth, falling stock prices, and his part-time commitment to Twitter.
In 2017, 24/7 Wall St. listed Dorsey among the 2017 Worst CEOs in America.