Twitter’s Dorsey leads $29 billion buyout of lending pioneer Afterpay

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Square Inc, the payments firm of Twitter Inc co-founder Jack Dorsey, will purchase buy now, pay later pioneer Afterpay Ltd for $29 billion, creating a global transactions giant through its biggest-ever acquisition.

The takeover, also the biggest buyout of an Australian firm, underscores the popularity of a business model that has upended consumer credit by charging merchants a fee to offer small point-of-sale loans which their shoppers repay in interest-free instalments, bypassing credit checks.

The pandemic has also fueled the boom in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) sector as tech-savvy consumers, stuck at home, spend money online to buy everything from coats to expensive phones.