Square to acquire Afterpay, Australian buy now, pay later platform for $29 billion

Jack Dorsey's Square is spending $29 billion on an Australian buy now, pay later firm — a massive purchase that will help his company build out its global payments empire.

Square — the financial payments company known for its popular Cash App — said it plans to merge Afterpay with its existing apps. That will give "even the smallest of merchants" the ability offer buy now, pay later services at checkout, among other offerings. Afterpay was founded in 2015 and launched in America in 2018. It's best known for its buy now, pay later offerings — a service that allows customers to divide retail and online payments into installments.