Magic Johnson Joins Square's Board in His Latest Payments Play

Earvin "Magic" Johnson has made several moves in the payments industry over the years, and the latest puts him on Square's team.

The basketball legend, who is also chairman and chief executive of Magic Johnson Enterprises as well as chairman of the Magic Johnson Foundation, will join Square's board this summer. The San Francisco-based mobile payments firm's other high-profile directors include Roelof Botha, Vinod Khosla, Jim McKelvey, Mary Meeker, Larry Summers and David Viniar.

"I have the deepest admiration for Earvin as a tireless champion for creating economic opportunity in underserved communities," said Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square and interim CEO of Twitter. "As a successful entrepreneur and advocate for economic inclusion, Earvin’s unique perspective will be invaluable to our community of sellers and our board."

Johnson's earlier work in the payments industry related to prepaid cards. In 2004 he worked with Bank of America and Celebrity Cards International to launch the short-lived MAGICCash card. In 2012 Johnson worked with OneWest Bank of Pasadena, Calif., on the MAGIC card, in which he had greater input.