Discover Raises International Profile with Purchase of Diners Club
April 7, 2008 By Justin McHenry
Discover Financial Services announced today its purchase of the Diners Club credit card brand from Citigroup for $165 million. The move will help Discover expand its footprint outside of the United States, where it has struggled to make headway and compete on an equal footing with the likes of Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Citigroup, for its part, raises some cash as it continues its attempt to right the ship after being stung in the subprime debacle.
Diners Club is accepted at over 8 million merchants in 185 countries, so Discover’s network instantly becomes international with the acquisition. While Discover says it will take two to three years to fully integrate Diners Club, in the end Discover credit cards will be accepted at all locations that accept Diners Club, and vice versa.
While it has sold the Diners Club brand, Citi will still issue Diners Club cards as a partner with Discover. Over the last few years, Discover has expanded from being simply a card issuer to being a “network” that processes payments in the same way that Visa and MasterCard do. The Diners Club acquisition allows Discover to broaden its processing network, but Discover will not be the issuer of new Diners Club cards. If that’s confusing, think of how natural the words Citi MasterCard sound, then think of Citi Diners Club Card in the same manner. Citi issues the card, Diners Club/Discover owns the processing network.
Discover’s purchase of Diners Club International is expected to close within 90 days.
-
1.Discover® More Card - 0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months & 6 months on purchases, 5% cashback bonus in popular categories, up to 1% cashback bonus on all other purchases
-
2.Chase Freedom Card - 0% Intro APR and no Annual Fee, 5% bonus cash back in popular categories , 1% cash bank on everything else
-
3.Citi® Platinum Select® MasterCard® - 0% on purchases & balance transfers for Up to 18 months, APR as low as 9.99% variable. $30 statement credit.
-
4.Blue Cash® from American Express - Earn up to 5% cash back on gas, groceries and drug store purchases, and up to 1.5% back on all other purchases, no annual fee, fast approval under 60 seconds
-
5. -
6.American Express® Gold Card - 10,000 American Express Membership Rewards bonus points when you use the card for at least $500 in purchases within the first 3 months.
-
7.TrueEarnings® Business Card from Costco & American Express - 4% cash back for annual gas purchases up to $6,000, 3% restaurants, 2% travel, 1% everywhere else, 0% APR on purchases for first 6 months
