IN PHOTOS Northern lights dance across the night sky in southern Ont.
From London, to Mildmay, Collingwood and St. Thomas, here are some highlights of Friday night and Saturday morning's northern lights display.
Jack Dorsey's Square is spending $29 billion on an Australian buy now, pay later firm — a massive purchase that will help his company build out its global payments empire.
Square — the financial payments company known for its popular Cash App — said it plans to merge Afterpay with its existing apps. That will give "even the smallest of merchants" the ability offer buy now, pay later services at checkout, among other offerings.
The acquisition is Square's largest ever.
Afterpay was founded in 2015 and launched in America in 2018. It's best known for its buy now, pay later offerings — a service that allows customers to divide retail and online payments into installments.
Such offerings have grown in popularity as a way to reach younger consumers and keep up with the rapid shift to online shopping in the pandemic. Payment analysts have pointed to the trend as particularly popular among Millennials and Generation Z, who are wary of taking on credit card debt.
Afterpay, meanwhile, is among the most prominent companies in the space. Square says 100,000 merchants globally use the platform, and that it has more than 16 million customers.
Square said it expects the all-stock deal to close in the first quarter of 2022. The acquisition is not only Square's largest ever, but it's also the largest acquisition of an Australian company ever — according to data from Refinitiv.
Dorsey, who serves as Square's CEO in addition to Twitter's, said Square and Afterpay have a "shared purpose."
"We built our business to make the financial system more fair, accessible, and inclusive, and Afterpay has built a trusted brand aligned with those principles," he said in a statement. "Together, we can better connect our Cash App and Seller ecosystems to deliver even more compelling products and services for merchants and consumers, putting the power back in their hands."
Afterpay co-CEOs Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar said the move "marks an important recognition of the Australian technology sector as homegrown innovation continues to be shared more broadly throughout the world."
"By combining with Square, we will further accelerate our growth in the U.S. and globally, offer access to a new category of in-person merchants, and provide a broader platform of new and valuable capabilities and services to our merchants and consumers," they said in a statement.
Square has been in acquisition mode this year. Back in March it agreed to acquire a majority stake in Jay-Z's streaming music service Tidal for $297 million. And in July it acquired frontline employee platform Crew, though details of the purchase were not available.
-- Nathaniel Meyersohn and Diksha Madhok contributed to this report.
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From London, to Mildmay, Collingwood and St. Thomas, here are some highlights of Friday night and Saturday morning's northern lights display.
A cyclist turned herself in and received a fine after striking a four-year-old girl who was crossing the street to catch a school bus.
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
The Netherlands' contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest was dramatically expelled from competition hours before Saturday's final of the pan-continental pop competition, which has been rattled by protests over the participation of Israel.
The rolling hills leading to the hamlet of Rosebud are dotted with sprawling farms and cattle pastures -- and a sign sporting a simple message: No Race Track.
In the quiet and leafy Vancouver neighbourhood of South Cambie, best known for its botanical garden, playoff fever is about to set in.
Evan Bouchard scored 5:38 into overtime and the Edmonton Oilers bounced back for a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Friday.
Biden wants the 2024 election to be a referendum on Trump's record and plans, but he also wants voters to look favourably on his own policies and actions
Irresponsibly using a credit card can land you in financial trouble, but personal finance columnist Christopher Liew says when used properly, it can be a powerful wealth-building tool that can help grow your credit profile and create new opportunities.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.