PayPal and Pinterest Discontinue Talks Last week PayPal announced it was in talks to buy social media platform Pinterest. One day later it was reported the payments giant’s stock price fell 5.9%. Shortly after, PayPal indicated it was not pursuing an acquisition of Pinterest due to shareholder objections. DCA Insight: The coming together of the two organizations made sense on...

Entrust Acquires Card Issuance Firm Antelop Secure payments and data protection company Entrust is acquiring French fintech company Antelop Solutions, according to PYMNTS.com. The coming together of the two organizations will simplify the process of banks adding digital credit and debit cards to their mobile wallets. DCA Insight: The pandemic continues to drive growth in demand for digital payments. Making digital card...

Consumer, member and employee loyalty and engagement solutions leader Augeo announced its acquisition of Deluxe Rewards today. Deluxe Rewards’ patented, dual-currency technology lets CardLinx member Augeo offer unique, experiential rewards to end users for less cost with minimal levels of accrued liability. CardLinx Insight: Augeo is seizing on a unique marketplace opportunity that enhances its offering and strengthens its competitive...

POWERED BY DOSH EXTENDS PLATFORM CAPABILITIES, MARKET Austin, Texas-based Dosh is expanding its retail-based, card-linked, cash-back offer platform to financial services businesses. The new offering, Powered By Dosh, enables new partners to capitalize on consumer demand for payment options that provide high-value rewards. Venmo is live, Jelli is expected to launch yet this month, and Dosh is in talks with...

Canadian company Mobeewave has been purchased by Apple for $100 million, giving the tech giant’s existing iPhones the ability to function as contactless, mobile pay hubs. Mobeewave is an app that doesn’t require cables or other hardware; the NFP chip that makes it work has been incorporated in iPhones since 2014. CardLinx Insight: This deal puts Apple firmly in the...

US Retail Sales Jump In June (But It Could Be the Last Increase for Some Time) Retail sales were up in May and June as economies reopened. A better-than-expected 7.5% jump in June, following a record-breaking 18.2% increase in sales in May, surpassed economists’ predictions. The rebound occurred after businesses reopened and pent-up demand for retail goods and services came...

Facebook Ad Boycott Grows To Include Coca-Cola, Unilever A leading ad agency is asking clients to pull Facebook ads to support a boycott against the company. The move is to protest Facebook’s failure to remove certain hate speech and reluctance to correct US Government statements made using the social media platform. Civil rights groups including the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation...

Mastercard announced its intent to acquire financial technology company Finicity to advance its API and financial data strategy. The acquisition is intended to strengthen the payment card giant’s relationships with consumers and businesses by giving them more control over their financial data. CardLinx Insight: Mastercard’s move to acquire Finicity follows a similar one made by arch-rival Visa when it acquired...

Plaid, the company acquired by Visa for $5.3 billion, was sued in a class action alleging it harvested consumer transaction data without permission. The law suit states “Plaid uses that access to deceptively obtain bank account information from users, accessing information back up to five years, averaging 3,700 transactions per consumer.” CardLinx Insight: The law suit alleges a fear many...

New Clean Way to Pay: Mobile Wallets Surge on Covid 19 Fears Requiring no physical contact with merchant point-of-sale terminals, mobile wallets are increasingly viewed as a safer way to pay by consumers around the world. Fears that payment cards, cash and coins may be tainted with the coronavirus, and that touching in-store terminals might make shoppers sick, the use...

Augeo announced today that it will acquire fellow CardLinx member Empyr. The deal terms were not disclosed. Augeo is a leading digital engagement company and card-linked technology provider to banks. Empyr powers the Yelp card-linked offer program, among other leading publisher platforms. The new company will be called Figg and will have more than 60 million linked cards and $300...

Expect the Unexpected in Covid-19’s Wake In the uncertainty that surrounds the coronavirus, Silvio Tavares, CEO of industry trade association Cardlinx, shared perspectives with member executives around the world. Among topics discussed? Travel’s stalled, with hotel occupancy at just 15% and properties slated to close; credit card use is down, impacting the U.S. and other countries where consumer spending accounts...