Capital One Buys Discover Financial Services, Report Says

(CTN News) – According to The Wall Street Journal, Capital One Financial is planning to acquire Discover Financial Services. Several sources have told the outlet that the deal is expected to be announced on Tuesday.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Capital One intends to retain the Discover brand as part of the all-stock deal. Capital One is already a participant in the Visa and Mastercard networks.

The company has done a better job of bringing in deposits, as well as having access to a number of institutions for the purpose of running the debit card network and providing customer service.

So it gives them an enormous amount of deposit gathering capability, which is extremely important in the current market,” said David Schiff, West Monroe’s head of consumer retail and banking.

As a result of the merger of these two companies, Capital One will be able to offer a wider range of credit card products and expand its deposit base. In June of last year, the company acquired the digital concierge service Velocity Black, a platform for premium credit cards and luxury markets. In the financial industry, similar acquisitions are relatively rare,

So the Capital One-Discover deal is likely to have broad implications for merger activity in the industry,

According to Schiff. Schiff stated, “It is a good illustration of the risks we are experiencing in the market, where regulators are striving to increase their control and maintain a rigorous balance against the competitive demands made quite clearly, in terms of the overall market.”

This deal comes at a time when Discover is under increasing pressure due to regulatory scrutiny and new leadership. It was announced in December 2023 that Michael Rhodes would become the current CEO.

There has been a 1.7% decline in Discover shares for the year, putting the company’s market capitalization at $27.63 billion. As of 2024, Capital One’s market cap is $52.2 billion, and the company’s shares are up 4.6%.

On Monday, News reported that Capital One was considering the acquisition of Discover.

There have been a number of large deals announced so far in this year, including the Capital One-Discover merger. A $35 billion deal was announced in January between Synopsys and Ansys, while Diamondback Energy announced a $26 billion deal to acquire privately held Endeavor Energy on February 12.

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