NEW YORK — Square, the 6-year-old company known for its cube-shaped credit and debit card readers that plug into smartphones, is boosting its planned initial public offering value by 47 percent.
The traditional manner of valuing a company, done by multiplying the total outstanding shares by the price of each share, puts Square’s worth at $4.2 billion if the top end of the pricing range is used.
That is substantially lower than a $6 billion valuation by the private investors in connection with the $150 million Series E fundraising in October 2014, according to the website , which tracks investments in tech companies.
Square Inc. plans to offer just over 31 million shares at a maximum of $13 apiece for total value of up to $403.7 million. Shares will trade under the symbol SQ on the New York Stock Exchange.
