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I am not normally one to dwell on the downfall of fellow payment industry participants…but this is really interesting – Fiserv, one of the world’s largest payment technology providers, has lost more than $30 billion in market value.
Fiserv shares nosedive $30 billion
Its new leadership team scrapped the ambitious financial targets set under former CEO Frank Bisignano – more of which later.
The dramatic, but frankly honest announcement made by the new CEO, which included a major shake-up of the company’s board and executive team, sent shares tumbling by 44%, marking one of the steepest declines in the firm’s history.
New Chief Executive Mike Lyons, said its previous growth assumptions were “too optimistic” and out of step with current macroeconomic conditions.
Lyons, who joined Fiserv from PNC and officially took the helm in May, told investors that he was undertaking a comprehensive review of the business and had uncovered projects that were behind schedule and “short-term driven.”
“As I got a more fulsome understanding of those, that obviously prompted some dissatisfaction with the way we do the process, and we’ve made leadership changes around that,” Lyons said during an analyst call.
Leadership Overhaul and Investor Fallout
Alongside the revised outlook, Fiserv announced the departure of its chief financial officer and a wide-ranging board reshuffle.
Gordon Nixon, the former Royal Bank of Canada chief executive, will become chairman, while Gary Shedlin, previously CFO of BlackRock, will chair the audit committee.
The company also appointed two new division presidents and named Paul Todd as its new CFO.
The sharp downgrade follows a turbulent year for Fiserv, which had already missed earnings expectations in both April and July.
Despite having reaffirmed its guidance earlier in the year, the firm was forced to trim projections in mid-summer before abandoning them entirely this week.
The stock has now fallen 66% year-to-date, prompting analysts to warn of an uphill struggle to restore market confidence.
BTIG described the results as “shockingly bad,” while William Blair analysts said they could “no longer recommend Fiserv” following what they termed an “abysmal” quarter.
A Legacy of Leadership and Legal Scrutiny
Bisignano, who led Fiserv from 2020 before departing to join the Trump administration as head of the Social Security Administration and, more recently, the Internal Revenue Service, remains a key figure in the unfolding story.
He and his family offloaded more than $550 million in Fiserv stock earlier this year at an average price of $170 per share—more than twice the $70.60 closing price recorded on Wednesday last week.
The company now faces a class-action lawsuit alleging that it artificially inflated growth figures under Bisignano’s tenure.
As Lyons seeks to stabilise the company, investors will be watching closely to see whether Fiserv can regain credibility and re-establish its footing in an increasingly competitive payments landscape.
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