NEW YORK, Oct. 28, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm, is investigating potential claims against Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (NYSE: FIS) on behalf of long-term stockholders following a class action complaint that was filed against Fidelity National on March 6, 2023 with a Class Period from May 7, 2020 and February 10, 2023. Our investigation concerns whether the board of directors of Fidelity National have breached their fiduciary duties to the company.
Fidelity National provides global e-commerce and payment technologies to financial institutions and businesses and, in recent years, has become the largest processing and payments company in the world. The Company is most known for its development of Financial Technology, or FinTech, and offers its solutions in three primary segments: Merchant Solutions; Banking Solutions; and Capital Market Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment accounted for approximately 30% of the Company’s total revenue in 2021, and serves merchants by enabling them to accept, authorize, and settle electronic payment transactions.
Throughout its history, Fidelity National has acquired several other financial technology firms. Relevant to the allegations here, on July 31, 2019, Fidelity National announced it had closed the acquisition of payments company Worldpay, Inc. (“Worldpay”) for $43 billion, consisting of $35 billion in cash and the assumption of $8 billion in debt. As a result of the acquisition, the Worldpay business became part of the Merchant Solutions segment.
According to the Complaint, during the Class Period, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements about Fidelity National’s latest acquisition of Worldpay by assuring investors it had “successfully completed the Worldpay integration” and touting the benefits of the Worldpay integration for the Company. The complaint alleges that as a result, Defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects during the Class Period were materially false and /or misleading.
Investors slowly learned that the Company’s important Merchant Solutions segment was underperforming and that the Company’s integration of Worldpay was not “successfully completed.”
First, on August 4, 2022, Fidelity National announced that its Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), James Woodall, planned to “step down” as Corporate Executive Vice President and CFO effective November 4, 2022. On this news, the price of Fidelity National stock fell more than 7%, from a closing price of $104.13 per share on August 3, 2022 to a closing price of $96.57 per share on August 4, 2022.
Other management changes soon followed. On October 18, 2022, the Company announced that Stephanie Ferris, who was appointed President of the Company in February and had served as the CFO of Worldpay, would become the new Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) effective January 1, 2023. The Company also announced that that the outgoing CEO, Gary Norcross, who had been with the Company since 1988 and in the CEO role since 2015, would become Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors upon the transition.
Then, on November 3, 2022, Fidelity National reported that its Merchant Solutions segment – namely Worldpay – suffered a “margin contraction of 430 basis points.” In response to this news, the price of Fidelity National stock declined more than 29%, from a closing price of $79.47 per share on November 2, 2022, to a closing price of $57.18 per share on November 3, 2022. Analysts reported the new Fidelity National management “recognize[d] the need to rebuild investor confidence.”
Finally, before markets opened on February 13, 2023, Fidelity National announced it would spin off Worldpay, and in the process, the Company recognized a stunning $17.6 billion write-down on the asset. In response to this revelation, the price of Fidelity National stock fell more than 12%, from a closing price of $75.43 per share on the prior trading day of February 10, 2023, to a closing price of $66.00 per share on February 13, 2023.
If you are a long-term stockholder of Fidelity National, have information, would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Brandon Walker or Marion Passmore by email at investigations@bespc.com, by telephone at (212) 355-4648, or by filling out this contact form. There is no cost or obligation to you.
About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York and California. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in commercial, securities, derivative, and other complex litigation in state and federal courts across the country. For more information about the firm, please visit www.bespc.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Contact Information:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.
Brandon Walker, Esq.
Marion Passmore, Esq.
(212) 355-4648
investigations@bespc.com
www.bespc.com
