Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Square is losing its first top exec since its IPO

The company’s first lawyer, Dana Wagner, is departing after five years.

Departing Square General Counsel Dana Wagner
Departing Square General Counsel Dana Wagner
Departing Square General Counsel Dana Wagner
Jason Del Rey
Jason Del Rey has been a business journalist for 15 years and has covered Amazon, Walmart, and the e-commerce industry for the last decade. He was a senior correspondent at Vox.

Dana Wagner, general counsel of Square, is leaving the Jack Dorsey-led payments company by the end of September, according to a regulatory filing.

Wagner has been with Square for five-plus years and shepherded the startup through the IPO process last year. He doesn’t have another job lined up and is taking time off, according to a spokesman.

“Dana was our first lawyer, and over the past five years he helped shape us into a global public technology company and built one of the very best legal and regulatory teams in the industry,” the company said in a statement. “We are grateful to Dana for his dedication to Square and adept counsel during so many pivotal moments, and we wish him the best.”

Square said that the company’s current associate general counsels, Sydney Schaub and Sivan Whiteley, will become acting co-general counsels upon Wagner’s departure.

Wagner is the first top executive to depart Square since its IPO last November. Square’s stock closed out trading today at $11.37 a share — basically in line with the price at which it opened on its first day of trading.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Technology
The case for AI realismThe case for AI realism
Technology

AI isn’t going to be the end of the world — no matter what this documentary sometimes argues.

By Shayna Korol
Politics
OpenAI’s oddly socialist, wildly hypocritical new economic agendaOpenAI’s oddly socialist, wildly hypocritical new economic agenda
Politics

The AI company released a set of highly progressive policy ideas. There’s just one small problem.

By Eric Levitz
Future Perfect
Human bodies aren’t ready to travel to Mars. Space medicine can help.Human bodies aren’t ready to travel to Mars. Space medicine can help.
Future Perfect

Protecting astronauts in space — and maybe even Mars — will help transform health on Earth.

By Shayna Korol
Podcasts
The importance of space toilets, explainedThe importance of space toilets, explained
Podcast
Podcasts

Houston, we have a plumbing problem.

By Peter Balonon-Rosen and Sean Rameswaram
Technology
What happened when they installed ChatGPT on a nuclear supercomputerWhat happened when they installed ChatGPT on a nuclear supercomputer
Technology

How they’re using AI at the lab that created the atom bomb.

By Joshua Keating
Future Perfect
Humanity’s return to the moon is a deeply religious missionHumanity’s return to the moon is a deeply religious mission
Future Perfect

Space barons like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk don’t seem religious. But their quest to colonize outer space is.

By Sigal Samuel