Verifone recent acquisitions

Verifone acquired 10 companies since 2010 with a total disclosed value of $1, 353m (for 6 transitions). The acquisitions were in the field of payment gateways, POS solutions, card reader components and interfaces, transaction switching solutions, and cashier technologies. Though generic reasons behind the acquisitions were to provide better customer service, expanding product portfolio, geographical, and product/services expansion, a deeper insight into Verifone’s acquisition reveal following trends:

Focus on Proximity Payments and Retail Mobility

Verifone acquired Global Bay (a leading provider of next-generation mobile retail solutions) to expand into Retail Mobility. It was part of Verifone’s strategy to bring the power of mobile into the world of retail and payments, extending new smartphone- and tablet-based shopping and payment experiences to retail organizations

Verifone acquired Lift Retail (a network-connected digital marketing hub that integrates with point-of-sale systems (POS) in the convenience store and petroleum retailing market) and incorporated it into its solutions portfolio as a product and services offering called Lift Retail Solutions. Acquisition of encryption leader Semtek was intended to strengthen focus on proximity payment

Acquisition of WAY Systems states the need of payment companies to gain access to intellectual property. WAY Systems possessed substantial intellectual property and reseller relationships that augmented Verifone’s mobile payment solutions strategy. The Company was granted numerous patents in the U.S., Europe and China for a range of intellectual property, including the connection of a mag-stripe reader to a mobile phone, PDA or smartphone