Square Shares Sink After Wall Street Learns CFO is Leaving

Square’s Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has been a pivotal person at the company and has become as widely recognized as CEO Jack Dorsey.

When Wall Street learned that she was leaving the company, shares dropped as much as 15%. The stock has crumbled as much as 27% in the last week as the tech sector sells off.

Friar had announced on Wednesday that she was leaving Square to take on the role of CEO at Nextdoor. Nextdoor is a social network that helps neighbors communicate with each other.

While analysts and traders showed concern over her departure, Jack Dorsey was thrilled for her. He tweeted, “I’m so happy for Sarah. She’s going to be great at running a company. Square is different tho. We’re organized by business unit, like Cash, Caviar, Seller, Capital…and a lead/CEO for each. They are the execution, not me or Sarah. Square is built to be a durable ecosystem.”

He also tweeted, “Really proud of @thefriley for taking the big step to fulfill her lifelong ambition to be a CEO. Thank you Sarah. We love you and I’m going to miss building Square with you, but I’m so happy for you. ❤️❤️❤️”

He did however say to employees, “I’m saddened by the news. I was unrealistically expecting to be working with Sarah well into our late 90s (swapping the standup tables for rocking chairs). Unrealistic because I knew of Sarah’s lifelong ambition to run her own company.”

“Sarah leaves us having established a culture of entrepreneurship and discipline across the entire company. She has been an amazing leader, partner, and friend, and we are grateful for all she’s done for Square,” the CEO said.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ) and have not been compensated for this article.