在北京时间8月3日的清晨，Square公司公布了它将以290亿美元的价格收购澳大利亚支付技术巨头Afterpay的意向。D.A. Davidson一家证券公司分析师克里斯托弗·布伦德指出，这次收购可能会为Square打通道路，因为其他金融科技巨头如万事达、Visa和PayPal也对Afterpay表现出了兴趣。他认为，Buy Now Pay Later（BNPL）模式已经逐渐成为主流，并且Square这次大举进军这一领域，无疑会吸引众多人的关注。

Afterpay创始人双方因为这笔交易而获得了大约25亿美元的收益。而作为投资者，腾讯也将从中受益。2019年，腾讯以3亿美元投资入股Afterpay并获得5%的股份，现在随着出售其持有的股票，将赚取17亿美元。

From a mere 10 Australian dollars in the early days of 2020, Afterpay's stock price has skyrocketed to an impressive 114.80 Australian dollars today, reflecting its rapid expansion and growth in the US market over the past few years. Upon completing this acquisition, Square will emerge as a formidable competitor among PayPal, Klarna and other payment technology giants.

Insiders reveal that Square had been in talks with Afterpay for nearly a year before making this announcement, confident that it would be able to secure the deal without any rival bidders.

As news of this massive investment spread like wildfire under the bright blue sky on that fateful morning, investors and industry experts alike were left pondering what implications this move might have on future financial transactions and consumer spending habits worldwide.