Suitor Bids Fail To Meet Shift4 Payments’ Expectations

Jared Isaacman, the Chief Executive Officer at Shift4 Payments, is said to be distinctly unimpressed by the valuations offered by potential acquirers.

According to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg, Isaacman mentioned that the company has received numerous offers from prominent suitors, but none of them correctly valued the business of its potential.

Shift4 Payments Aims To Enhance Shareholder Value

Shift 4, a publicly-listed firm with approximately $7 billion market valuation, has been organizing a sale process for the past few months.

In November, Isaacman informed shareholders that the firm was exploring strategic alternatives and opportunities with Global Payments, which initially was a front-runner. However, earlier this month, Reuters disclosed that Amadeus and Fiserv had emerged as a primary contender.

Shift4 boasts more than $200 billion worth of transactions annually for over 200,000 merchants, including hotels and restaurants.

Shift4 is an American payment processing firm, based in Allentown, Pennsylvania and publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Established by Jared Issacman in 1999, who was 16-year-old as for then, the firm boosts payments for more than 200,000 enterprises in the restaurants, leisure, hospitality, and retail industries.

Shift4 focuses on commerce solutions like mobile payment hardware and software firms. As the firm became public in 2020, Isaacman still holds the position as the company’s Chief Executive Officer.

Shift4 Payments Seeks To Revolutionize The Payment Processing Industry

While working with a payment processing firm, Isaacman who had already obtained his GED and was working full-time recognized inefficiencies in the industry. In response, he founded the United Card in his parents’ basement in Far Hills, New Jersey.

It typically took merchants approximately a month to establish a payment system at that time, with merchants having to sign a lengthy application and pay for their credit card readers. Issacman’s new firm aims to ease this process by reducing the set-up time to one day, offering free credit card readers to merchants, and reducing the requirement to sign a two-page application.

In 2012, United Bank Card changed its name to Harbortouch to align with its payment and point-of-sale technology.

Between 2014 and 2017, the firm experienced growth by acquiring numerous point-of-sale and payment processing firms, such as Merchant Service Inc., the firm where Isaacman worked during his teenage years.

In 2017, the firm underwent another rebranding to Lighthouse Network, with Harbortouch functioning as a subsidiary. While working under its new name, the firm acquired Shift4 Corporation, a payment gateway provider, and then rebranded itself to Shift Payments.