Rumors Swirl That Square Is for Sale

If Google were to buy Square, how many billions would we be talking here? It’s Silicon Valley’s version of pin the tail on the donkey.

Tech behemoth Google is reported to be in talks to scoop up mobile-payments company Square, according to a report in today’s Wall Street Journal. Square previously had conversations with Apple and eBay’s PayPal, but they never materialized into anything serious, the Journal reported.

San Francisco-based Square, for its part, flatly denied the report, admitting only that it could imagine being desired by many tech companies.

Related: Square Market Now Takes Bitcoin Payments

"We are not, nor have we ever been in acquisition talks with Google, and while we appreciate that Square may be an attractive target for some companies, we have never seriously considered selling to anyone or been in any talks to do so," said a Square spokesperson in an email to Entrepreneur.com.

Founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey in 2009, Square allows merchants to accept payments on their mobile phone or tablet with a small hardware attachment called a “dongle.” The company, which currently does business in the U.S., Canada and Japan, collects 2.75 percent of every transaction.

Related: Square Releases a Better, Thinner Mobile Credit-Card Reader

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