Square CEO Jack Dorsey says acquiring Afterpay will drive more e-commerce activity across both services by more tightly connecting retailers with young shoppers, as he kicked off a pitch to encourage the US fintech’s shareholders to support the blockbuster $39 billion deal.

Local Square alumni said the mega-deal made strategic sense but suggested the US giant might prioritise its own brand in the United States over Afterpay’s, as it pulled the buy now, pay later service to its own merchant and user systems.