Square is worth half as much as it was a year ago

Square Inc priced shares at $9 late on Wednesday for its initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter, about 25 percent less than it had hoped, as the mobile payments company struggled to win over investors skeptical about its business and valuation before trading begins on Thursday. The San Francisco-based company earlier this month set a price range of $11 to $13, well below the $15.46 per-share price investors paid in Square’s most recent private financing round last year. The steeper discount to $9 – a 42 percent drop from a year ago – suggests widespread uncertainty about the profitability of the payments industry and the future of Square itself, which has seen slowing revenue growth. The weaker price set on Wednesday puts Square’s market capitalization at $2.9 billion, a far cry from the $6 billion valuation it had earned from private investors.