Executives at mobile payments start-up Square are discussing the possibility of being acquired, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Potential suitors listed in the report include Google, Apple and eBay.
Square reportedly lost $100 million (about £59m, AU$107m) in 2013, according to The Wall Street Journal's two unnamed sources. Additionally, the startup has used more than $170 million (about £101m, AU$182m) of the $340 million (about £202m, AU$364m) it had raised since 2009, the sources said.
A Square spokesman offered the following statement to TechRadar via email:
"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."
A Paypal spokesman also told The Wall Street Journal acquisition talks have not taken place.
Square, Google, eBay and Apple did not immediately respond to TechRadar's request for comment.
Mobile payments
Square is a mobile payments solution that provides the software and hardware that enables merchants to swipe credit cards on mobile devices. The company was founded in 2009 by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey.
The Wall Street Journal projects Square could be sold for "billions of dollars" despite a 6% decrease in gross margins from 2012 to 2013 and a business model that yields thin profit margins due to fees the company must pay to payment networks like Visa and MasterCard.
Square processed more than $20 billion (about £11.9b, AU$21.4b) in transactions, yielding revenue of about $550 million (about £327m, AU$589m) in 2013, according to the report.
