https://www.pymnts.com/acquisitions/2025/report-justice-department-finds-capital-one-acquisition-of-discover-would-harm-competition/
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Report: Justice Department Finds Capital One Acquisition of Discover Would Harm Competition
By PYMNTS
March 17, 2025
The Department of Justice has reportedly found that Capital One’s planned acquisition of Discover would be anticompetitive.
“DOJ staff has determined that Capital One’s proposed $35.3 billion acquisition of Discover Financial would harm competition in the subprime sector, sources familiar with the matter said,” The Capitol Forum said in a Monday (March 17) post on LinkedIn.
The Department of Justice did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
The department’s finding will be included in a draft report on the proposed combination that it is preparing to give to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Seeking Alpha reported Monday, citing a paywalled article by The Capitol Forum.
Capital One and Discover said in a Feb. 18 press release that over 99% of the stockholders of both companies voted to approve the acquisition and that Capital One expected the transaction to close early this year, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The Delaware State Bank Commission approved the proposed acquisition in December.
Capital One announced its planned acquisition of Discover in February 2024, saying the all-stock transaction, valued at $35.3 billion, will create a global payments platform with 70 million merchant acceptance points in more than 200 countries and territories.
“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, founder, chairman and CEO of Capital One, said at the time in a press release.
It was reported in October that New York Attorney General Letitia James was investigating the proposed acquisition and asked a court for permission to issue subpoenas to Capital One, saying the bank had declined to voluntarily waive federal confidentiality protections.
While the U.S. Justice Department was already reviewing the proposed deal, James said in a court filing that the deal would have “significant impact” on consumers in New York because the two companies would have a dominant 30% market share among subprime consumers.
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Report: Alphabet Close to $30 Billion Acquisition of Wiz
By PYMNTS
March 17, 2025
Alphabet, Google, Wiz, acquisitions
Google parent Alphabet is reportedly close to a deal to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz for $30 billion after a $23 billion deal fell through last summer.
The companies are in advanced talks and could close a deal soon if last-minute problems don’t arise like they did earlier, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Monday (March 17), citing unnamed sources.
Neither Alphabet nor Wiz immediately replied to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
An acquisition would bolster Alphabet’s efforts in cloud computing by enabling it to offer Wiz’s enhanced security features, according to the report.
The reported deal would also be Google’s biggest acquisition ever, topping its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility that closed in 2012, per the report.
It was reported in July that the cybersecurity firm rejected a $23 billion acquisition bid by Google and intended to go ahead with its plans for an initial public offering (IPO).
Investor and antitrust concerns contributed to Wiz’s decision to walk away from the deal, CNBC reported at the time.
Wiz was valued at $12 billion after raising $1 billion in a May funding round. The company said at the time that it planned to use the new financing to fuel acquisitions and product and talent development.
The company said in an August blog post that it reached 100 official integrations in the first year after the launch of its Wiz Integration platform. The company said that by enabling independent software vendors (ISVs) to build bi-directional integrations on top of the Wiz API, it could extend the solution to meet the diverse security needs of its customers.
In August, Wiz said it had been authorized by the Common Vulnerability and Exposure (CVE) Program as a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA), meaning it could assign CVEs to vulnerabilities and rapidly share disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities with the public.
The company announced during the same month that Wiz for Government achieved FedRAMP Moderate authorization, a distinction that joined its StateRAMP authorization its IL4 in-process status.
“Wiz stands at the brink of all three: cloud, AI and cyber,” Dean Scontras, area vice president, public sector at Wiz, said at the time in a press release. “Wiz provides a single platform to view and contextualize risk across all clouds as well as AI security posture management.”
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