 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | 1999 (as United Bank Card) |
| Founder | Jared Isaacman |
| Headquarters | Center Valley, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Area served |
|
Key people |
|
| Revenue |  US$3.33 billion (2024) |
| US$247 million (2024) | |
| US$230 million (2024) | |
| Total assets | US$5.04 billion (2024) |
| Total equity | US$1.02 billion (2024) |
Number of employees | ~4,000 (2024) |
| Website | shift4 |
| Footnotes / references Financials as of December 31, 2024[update]. References:[1] | |
Shift4 Payments, Inc. is an American payment processing company based in Allentown, Pennsylvania.[2][3] The company, founded in 1999 by the then 16-year-old Jared Isaacman, processes payments for over 200,000 businesses in the retail, hospitality, leisure, and restaurant industries.[2][4] Shift4 specializes in commerce technology such as mobile payment software and hardware.[5][6] The company was publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2020.[7]
History
While working as an employee of a payment processing company, the 16-year-old Isaacman (who had already earned his GED and gone to work full-time) identified what he saw as inefficiencies in the industry. In response, he launched United Bank Card in his parents' basement in Far Hills, New Jersey.[5][8] At the time, it generally took merchants about one month to set up a payment system and merchants had to pay for their credit card readers and sign a lengthy application. As an alternative, Isaacman's new company cut the set-up time to one day, gave merchants free credit card readers and only required merchants sign a two-page application.[5]
In 2012, United Bank Card rebranded as Harbortouch to better reflect its point-of-sale and payment technology.[5]
Between 2014 and 2017, the company expanded by acquiring multiple payment processing and point-of-sale companies, including Merchant Services Inc. (the same company Isaacman worked for as a teen).[5]
The company rebranded once again in 2017 as Lighthouse Network, with Harbortouch becoming a subsidiary.[9][10]
In 2017, the company - then operating as the Lighthouse Network - acquired payment gateway provider Shift4 Corporation and rebranded itself as Shift4 Payments.[10]
Shift4 went public on the NYSE in June 2020, raising $345 million through its IPO.[4][3] The company is one of the few companies to go public in the months after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company completed its "roadshow" for investors entirely online.[7] The company was the first to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange after the trading floor was reopened following its shutdown because of the pandemic.[4]
In November 2020, Shift4 announced the acquisition of 3dcart,[11] an E-commerce platform. In January 2021, Shift4 rebranded it as Shift4Shop.[12]
In March 2021, the company announced the acquisition of VenueNext, a provider of point-of-sale and payment products for stadiums, arena, and other entertainment venues.[13] A year later, the company announced it acquired Finaro.[14]
In February 2025, the company announced the acquisition of Global Blue for $1.5 billion.[15]
In March 2025, Isaacman announced his intention to resign as CEO upon his confirmation as administrator of NASA, following his nomination by Donald Trump the previous January.[16]
Services
The company's business model involves integrating payment processing services into various hardware and software products as well as the gathering of business intelligence.[17][18]
It works primarily in the restaurant, hospitality, retail and e-commerce industries.[7][19] Shift4 also offers cloud-based reporting and analytics software.[6] In 2019, the company processed approximately 3.5 billion transactions.[20]
References
- ^ "Annual report Form 10-K 2024 Shift4". February 19, 2025. Retrieved March 8, 2025.
- ^ a b Beltran, Luisa (June 5, 2020). "Shift4 Payments Is the Latest IPO to Soar Despite Pandemic". Barron's. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ a b Tse, Crystal; Fioretti, Julia (June 4, 2020). "Triple U.S. Trading Debut Caps 2020's Best Week for Listings". Bloomberg. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ a b c Bary, Emily (June 5, 2020). "Shift4 Payments stock surges after IPO in vote of confidence for economic recovery". MarketWatch. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Segran, Elizabeth (April 13, 2015). "Meet The Fighter-Jet-Flying 32-Year-Old On Top Of The Payments Industry". Fast Company. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ a b "Shift4Payments, Inc". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ a b c Balogh, Shannon (June 6, 2020). "Shift4 Payments just surged 46% in its public-market debut. Its CEO walked us through the 300-meeting virtual road show it took to launch the IPO". Business Insider. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
- ^ Nivedita, C; Manikandan, Abhishek; Hussain, Noor Zainab; Franklin, Joshua (June 5, 2020). "Shift4, Legend Biotech surge in banner week for U.S. IPOs". Reuters. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ Salamone, Anthony (March 22, 2018). "Lehigh Valley credit card processing company won't relocate headquarters". The Morning Call. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
- ^ a b Nariyanuri, Sampath Sharma (January 17, 2018). "Lighthouse Network buys payment processing company Shift4". S&P Global Market Intelligence. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
- ^ "Shift4 Payments Acquires 3dcart Ecommerce Platform". November 5, 2020.
- ^ "Shift4 Payments Rebrands 3dcart, Launches eCommerce Platform Shift4Shop". January 27, 2021.
- ^ "Shift4's acquisition of VenueNext paves way for payments in sports, entertainment". March 10, 2021.
- ^ Spiro, James (March 29, 2022). "Finaro outlines its future plans following acquisition by US-based Shift4". CTECH. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
- ^ "Exclusive | Payments Processor Shift4 Strikes $1.5 Billion Deal for Tax-Free Shopping Network". Retrieved March 8, 2025.
- ^ Isaacman, Jared (March 12, 2025). "Letter to Iris Lan, Designated Agency Ethics Official of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration" (PDF). Retrieved March 27, 2025.
- ^ "Shift4 Payments Announces Pricing of Public Offering of Class A Common Stock". Yahoo Finance. September 10, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ^ "Payment Methods Shift4 Introduces Contactless QR Pay Tech". PYMNTS.com. June 24, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
- ^ Kudo, Hikaru (July 29, 2020). "Raiders Thinking Ahead with Shift4 Payments Partnership". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ^ Salamone, Anthony (June 5, 2020). "Lehigh Valley's Shift4 Payments files to go public with initial price offering". The Morning Call. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
External links
- Official website
- Business data for Shift4 Payments, Inc.:
