Payments

Capital One inks $35B acquisition deal with Discover

Photo: Sundry Photography - stock.adobe.com

February 22, 2024

Capital One will acquire Discover Financial Services for approximately $35 billion. Discover Financial stockholders will receive shares valued at around $140, according to a report by AP News.

This deal will majorly impact the payments industry as it would give the Discover payment network access to a major credit card. This could in turn compete with Visa and Mastercard. At the moment, it is unknown if Capital One will use Discover's payment system or set up a network.

"Our acquisition of Discover is a singular opportunity to bring together two very successful companies with complementary capabilities and franchises, and to build a payments network that can compete with the largest payments networks and payments companies," Richard Fairbank, chairman and CEO of Capital One, said in a statement.

Some have raised concerns that regulators will target this combined company.

"The FTC isn't the agency that would challenge Capital One - Discover, that would be bank regulators and the antitrust division," Matt Stoller, research director at AELP, said in a Tweet.