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Launched in 2013, Cash App now has 57 million monthly active users and is challenging PayPal (PYPL +2.00%) and Venmo as the biggest peer-to-peer payment app in the U.S. In this deep dive into Cash App, we'll explore its relationship with parent company Block, the ownership structure behind the company, and the executives and board members who run the company.
Who is the owner of Cash App?
Cash App is fully owned by Block, which launched the payment app, originally Square Cash, as its own competitor to peer-to-peer payment apps like Venmo and PayPal. It became known as Cash App soon after that.
Cash App was once a secondary business for Block, just behind Square. Its business focused on helping retailers, independent vendors, and restaurants make sales and process payments. Today, based on gross profit, Cash App is the bigger of the two.
In the first quarter of 2024, Cash App brought in $1.26 billion in gross profit, up 25% from the quarter a year ago. That's compared to $820 million for Square, which was up 19% from a year ago.
Cash App also helped prompt Square to change its corporate name to Block, reflecting that the business has grown beyond Square. Block also owns other businesses, such as Tidal, Afterpay, and several Bitcoin (BTC -0.11%)-related businesses, including an exchange and a mining operation.
Who are the largest shareholders?
Below, we'll explore the largest shareholders in Block and, by extension, Cash App. First, we'll look at individual shareholders.
Individuals
- Jack Dorsey: 48.8 million shares, 7.7% of the company. Dorsey is both the CEO and chairperson of the board of directors and the company's co-founder. His official title is Block Head and Square Head, implying that he runs the Square business. (Brian Grassadonia is the CEO of Cash App.) Dorsey has been CEO of Block since 2009 and also served as CEO of Twitter from 2015 to 2021.
Board of Directors
- Roelof Botha: 1.3 million shares, 0.2% of the company. Botha has served on the board since 2011 and has been the lead independent director. Botha served in various positions with Sequoia Capital, a well-established venture capital firm, and worked in several positions at PayPal, including CFO. Botha is also on the boards of several publicly traded companies.
- Mary Meeker: 413,177 shares, 0.1% of the company. Meeker has served on the board since 2011. She was asked to serve on the company's board of directors because of her experience advising and analyzing technology companies. That includes working as a managing director at Morgan Stanley (MS -0.16%) and a general partner of Bond Capital and Kleiner Perkins.
Institutional investors
- Vanguard Group: 36.7 million shares, 5.7% of the company. The Vanguard Group is a large manager of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and holds shares of Block for the ETFs it runs. Although it is one of Block's largest shareholders, it is not an institutional investor in Block in a traditional sense.
- BlackRock: 35.3 million shares, 5.4% of the company. Like Vanguard, BlackRock (BLK -1.39%) is another large manager of ETFs under the iShares brand and owns shares of Block beneficially to distribute through its ETFs. That includes funds that track the S&P 500 and those that follow specific sectors, like fintech.
- FMR: 29.4 million shares, 5.3% of the company. FMR is Fidelity Institutional Asset Management, and like its peers here, it buys and holds stocks to create ETFs and other investment products.
Buy-and-Hold Strategy
- Paul Deighton: director since 2016, owns 35,427 shares. Deighton has held various executive positions, including chairman of Goldman Sachs (GS -0.10%), non-executive chairman of The Economist Group, and non-executive chairman of Heathrow Airport Holdings.
- Randall Garutti: director since 2017, owns 23,843 shares. Garutti served as the CEO of Shake Shack from 2012-2024.
- Amy Brooks: director since 2019, owns 12,780 shares. Brooks is president of new business ventures of the National Basketball Association and has served in a number of other positions with the NBA.
- Shawn Carter: director since 2021, owns 38,073 shares. Carter is better known as Jay-Z, the rapper, impresario, and a majority owner of Roc Nation and Marcy Media. Carter also founded the music streaming service Tidal in which Block acquired a majority stake in 2019.
- Sharon Rothstein: director since 2022, owns 6,082 shares. Rothstein was an executive at Starbucks (SBUX -2.69%) for five years and has held marketing and brand management positions with several high-profile brands, like Sephora and Godiva. She also served on the board of directors at Afterpay, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Block acquired in 2022. Rothstein is retiring from the board this year.
- Neha Narula, director since 2023, owns 297 shares. Narula has been the director of the Digital Currency Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, which focuses on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)
How to invest in Cash App
You can't invest in Cash App, but you can invest in its parent company, Block, which now counts Cash App as its biggest business by gross profit. Block is a publicly traded company and has been since 2015. If you're looking to invest in the Square parent, you can do so the same way you would with any other stock.
First, you'll need a brokerage account. If you don't have one, you can open one with a brokerage with a platform, like Charles Schwab (SCHW +0.12%), Fidelity, Robinhood (HOOD +6.49%), or E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley.
Second, you'll want to decide on your budget. How much you invest should be based on how much you have available after funding your more immediate needs. You'll also want to keep diversification in mind, as limiting your exposure to a new stock to 10% of your total portfolio is a good idea.
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Third, you'll need to do your research. Determine whether Block's growth and profit potential justify its current valuation and whether its risk profile aligns with your own financial goals.
Finally, you'll have to place an order to buy the stock. You can either place a market order, which will buy the stock at the current price, or you can place a limit order, which gives you more control over the price you pay, but your order may not be executed.
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