What Does AmEx Get in Revolution Money?

Analyst: Bill Bradway

Date: November 20, 2009

American Express (AmEx) announced on 11/18/2009 that it plans to acquire Revolution Money, a four-year old alternative payments start-up. Originally, Revolution Money’s objective was to challenge PayPal in online payments and by dodging interchange fees in the offline card purchasing market. Revolution Money provides disparate payments platforms that include peer-to-peer payments via an Internet platform to a prepaid card linked to those accounts that can be used for offline payments or to withdraw cash from US based ATMs.

American Express agreed to pay $300 million, subject to provisions, with a projected 1Q2010 closing. But, answers to several questions are worth exploring.

• What does AmEx get with this deal?
• Who are the deal’s real winners?
• Are any other payments players now at risk?

Read more to find out how to receive access to this and other A & O Briefs.

Bradway Research permits the purchase of an individual Analysis & Opinion Brief for internal use by the purchasing party. We use PayPal to complete all online purchase transactions. Plese click on the "Buy Now" button to use PayPal's credit card transaction service. Once the transaction has been completed and notice is received from PayPal, you will receive the A & O Brief by email. Please contact us at info@bradwayresearch.com if you have additional inquiries.