Square CFO Departs, Shares Sink

Square announced that its CFO is stepping down, which caused the company’s shares to fall in after-hours trading. Square’s CEO Jack Dorsey revealed that Sarah Friar — often described as his right-hand person — was leaving the company to become to the CEO of Nextdoor.

“Sarah isn’t just a world-class CFO. She’s a multidimensional leader who considered our entire business,” Dorsey said in an email to staff on Wednesday (Oct. 10), according to Financial Times. “Her team and role evolved through years of learning and building with us, and that’s not something you replace by simply hiring.”

As a result of the announcement, Square’s stock was down more than 8 percent, extending a 10 percent loss in regular trading. In addition to her role at Square, Friar sits on the boards of both Slack and Walmart.

Launched eight years ago, San Francisco-based Nextdoor, a social networking service for neighborhoods, has raised $285 million from investors, including Insight Venture Partners, Benchmark, Shasta Ventures, Tiger Global Management and Kleiner Perkins.

“Sarah is one of the most highly regarded executives in Silicon Valley, with an exceptionally rare mix of proven business skills, and authentic heart and soul. . . From the very beginning of our CEO search, she has been the top choice, and the board of directors and I feel exceptionally fortunate and excited for her to lead Nextdoor moving forward,” said the company’s Co-founder and soon-to-be-leaving CEO Nirav Tolia, according to reports.

Square said it will begin a search for a new CFO led by David Viniar, its lead independent director and former Goldman Sachs CFO. Friar, who will stay at Square until December, helped see the company through its initial public Offering (IPO), as well as helped build its mobile services.

In August, it was reported that cumulative downloads of Square‘s Cash App surpassed PayPal‘s Venmo for the first time ever after Square’s service grew three times faster than its rival in July. Data from Sensor Tower and Nomura Instinet revealed that the Cash App’s cumulative downloads now total to 33.5 million, exceeding Venmo’s 32.9 million.