Visa buys CyberSource for $2 billion
23 April, 2010
category: NFC
Visa has bought e-commerce company CyberSource Corp. for $2 billion, indicating a significant shift in focus to mobile payment, according to americanbanker.com.
“Mobile is clearly a growing and important channel for us,” affirms Gerry Sweeney, Visa’s head of global e-commerce and authentication.
Cali-based CyberSource boasts more than 295,000 merchant clients and, according to the company, handles roughly a quarter of all U.S. online transactions.
Visa will use CyberSource, who has worked with the credit company since 1999, to reinforce security for online commerce as well as mobile payments.
Although Sweeney defends the inherent safety of mobile payment, he says that Visa wants to “stay ahead of the curve” as the new payment technology catches on, especially considering that the impending growth of mobile payment will attract droves of hackers, and with them, new security threats.
The deal, which would turn CyberSource into a Visa subsidiary, is expected to close in the third quarter of the calendar year.
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