What Worldpay does
Worldpay is a merchant acquirer and payment processor. It lets businesses accept card and digital payments in store and online, and earns fees on the transactions it handles. Before its sale to Global Payments it reported about $4.9 billion of revenue (2023), about 8,500 employees, and around 40 billion transactions a year across 146 countries.
Two roots
The current Worldpay, Inc. began in 1971 as Fifth Third Bank's Midwest Payment Systems. It became Fifth Third Processing Solutions, was spun into a joint venture with Advent International in 2009, and became Vantiv in 2011 before listing on the NYSE in 2012. The Worldpay brand came from the UK, where Nick Ogden launched WorldPay in 1997. That business later belonged to RBS, was sold to Advent and Bain Capital in 2010, and listed in London in 2015.
A run of ownership changes
Vantiv bought Worldpay Group in 2018 and took its name. FIS acquired the combined company in 2019 in a deal valued at about $43 billion including debt, then took a $17.6 billion goodwill impairment on the merchant business. In early 2024 GTCR bought 55% at an enterprise value of about $18.5 billion, and Charles Drucker returned as CEO.
Global Payments
In April 2025 Global Payments agreed to buy Worldpay for $24.25 billion in cash and stock, while selling its Issuer Solutions business to FIS. Both deals closed in January 2026, and GTCR now holds about 15% of Global Payments. The combined company says it serves more than 6 million merchant locations and processes about $3.7 trillion a year, organized into Enterprise, SMB, and Integrated & Platforms channels.
