Block, Inc., the US payments company led by Jack Dorsey, owns 100% of Afterpay. Block completed the all-stock purchase on January 31, 2022, and Afterpay has had no outside shareholders since. Block trades on the New York Stock Exchange as XYZ and had a market value of about $53 billion on November 4, 2026.
Afterpay ownership at a glance
The ownership chain runs from Afterpay Limited to Lanai (AU) 2 Pty Ltd, an indirect wholly owned Block subsidiary, and then to Block, Inc.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Ownership type | Wholly owned subsidiary |
| Parent company | Block, Inc. (NYSE: XYZ) |
| Largest shareholders of Block | Vanguard (12.8% of Class A shares); Jack Dorsey (42.2% of voting power) |
| Latest market cap | Block: about $53 billion (November 4, 2026); Afterpay alone: Not disclosed |
| Last acquisition | Bought by Block, closed January 31, 2022, for $13.8 billion in stock |
| Founded | 2014, Melbourne, Australia |
| Headquarters | Block: Oakland, California |
| CEO | Not disclosed for Afterpay; Jack Dorsey is Block Head (Block’s title for CEO) |
Who owns Afterpay today?
Block owns every Afterpay share. The deal ran through a court-approved scheme of arrangement under Australian law, according to Block’s 8-K filing dated January 28, 2022.
Afterpay shareholders received Block Class A stock instead of cash. Block issued 113,617,352 Class A shares, worth $13.8 billion at the closing price on the acquisition date, per its first-quarter 2022 10-Q.
The deal was announced in August 2021 at about $29 billion. The final value came in lower because Block’s share price fell between announcement and close.
Afterpay stopped trading on the Australian Securities Exchange once the deal closed. In March 2025, Block renamed the US product Cash App Afterpay and placed it inside Cash App.
Afterpay now reports inside Block’s Cash App results. In the third quarter of 2026, Afterpay post-purchase loan volume more than tripled from a year earlier, Block said on its November 3, 2026 earnings call.
Who owns Block?
No single holder owns a majority of Block. Control comes from a dual-class share structure: Class A shares carry one vote each, and Class B shares carry ten.
Jack Dorsey held 1,000,000 Class A shares and 47,844,566 Class B shares as of March 31, 2026, according to Block’s 2026 proxy statement. That is 79.8% of the Class B stock and 42.2% of total voting power.
Co-founder Jim McKelvey holds most of the remaining Class B stock. Directors and executive officers as a group control about 53.3% of the vote under the same filing.
Block’s board has 10 members, six of them independent. Roelof Botha of Sequoia Capital has been lead independent director since June 2022. Afterpay co-founder Anthony Eisen joined the board in February 2025.
Founders who keep voting control through high-vote shares are common among US tech listings. This explainer on how founder equity and cap tables work covers the mechanics.
What else does Block own?
Afterpay sits beside several other Block businesses. Block reported third-quarter 2026 gross profit of $3.24 billion, up 22% year over year.
| Business | What it does | Q3 2026 data point |
|---|---|---|
| Square | Payments and software for sellers | $1.16 billion gross profit, up 14% |
| Cash App | Consumer money app | $2.07 billion gross profit, up 27% |
| Afterpay | Buy now, pay later | Reported inside Cash App |
| TIDAL | Music streaming (majority owned) | Not broken out |
Cash App had 60 million monthly transacting actives in September 2026. Cash App consumer lending origination volume, which includes Afterpay, reached $19 billion in the quarter, a 40% increase.
Who are the biggest investors in Afterpay?
Afterpay has one investor: Block. Anyone who wants a financial stake in Afterpay has to buy Block shares, so Block’s shareholder register is the practical answer.
Index funds hold the most Class A stock, while the founders hold the votes. Vanguard, T. Rowe Price and BlackRock together held about 28.9% of Class A shares but 13.6% of total voting power in the 2026 proxy.
- Vanguard Group: about 68.4 million Class A shares, 12.8% of the class, as of September 30, 2025.
- T. Rowe Price: about 47.5 million Class A shares, 8.9% of the class, as of June 30, 2025.
- BlackRock: about 38.9 million Class A shares, 7.3% of the class, as of September 30, 2025.
- Jack Dorsey: 47.8 million Class B shares and 42.2% of the vote, as of March 31, 2026.
Vanguard reorganized how it reports holdings in January 2026, so its next filings may show the stake split across several units.
Private tech companies show a different pattern, with venture funds and strategic partners at the top. This breakdown of OpenAI’s shareholders is one example.
Is Afterpay publicly traded?
No. Afterpay left the ASX when Block’s purchase closed on February 1, 2022, Australian time, and it has no ticker of its own.
Block’s Class A stock trades on the NYSE under XYZ. Block also has CHESS Depositary Interests on the ASX under the same ticker, which gives Australian investors a local way to hold the parent. For companies still heading toward a listing, see this list of AI companies in the IPO pipeline.
FAQ
Who founded Afterpay?
Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen co-founded Afterpay in Melbourne, Australia, in 2014. Eisen served as co-CEO before the Block deal and has sat on Block’s board since February 2025.
Does Jack Dorsey own Afterpay?
Not directly. Block owns Afterpay. Dorsey controls 42.2% of Block’s voting power through Class B shares, as of March 31, 2026, which makes him the largest voting holder of the parent company.
Is Afterpay owned by Cash App?
Both are Block businesses. In March 2025, Block renamed the US service Cash App Afterpay and put it inside Cash App, but the legal owner of Afterpay remains Block, Inc.
How much did Block pay for Afterpay?
Block issued 113,617,352 Class A shares worth $13.8 billion on the January 31, 2022 closing date. The August 2021 announcement valued the same deal at about $29 billion.
Can you buy Afterpay stock?
No. Afterpay shares stopped trading after the 2022 takeover. Investors can buy Block shares on the NYSE or Block CDIs on the ASX, both under the ticker XYZ.
