by Matt Rej
It’s official. About nine months after the initial announcement, Global Payments has finally completed its acquisition of Worldpay.
The deal closed on January 12, 2026, and was announced through a press release from Global.
Global Payments CEO Cameron Bready was a guest on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that same day to discuss the acquisition. And he made some comments that I think are worth calling out, and pretty telling of Global’s plans with the Worldpay accounts that are now under their umbrella.
Global CEO Bready on the Acquisition
During the CNBC interview with Carl Quintanilla, Bready said that the Worldpay acquisition will allow Global to:
“Focus all of our time, effort, attention, and resources on a single line of business. And delivering the best capabilities we have to our clients across commerce solutions and payments.”
This is a pretty standard statement from an executive that honestly doesn’t mean much.
Global was already one of the largest processors in the world prior to the acquisition. So I’m sure they were already focused on both payments and commerce solutions. But Bready’s comments in the next breath were, in my opinion, the most important thing that was mentioned. He continued to say that:
“It also allows us to amplify our investments more effectively in the business to drive better returns.”
There it is. Better returns for investors.
Getting Returns on a $24.5 Billion Investment
Global acquired Worldpay for roughly $24.5 billion in cash and stock.
And on the day the deal closed, Global’s CEO was on TV talking about return on investment for Global Payments investors.
What do you think is Global’s priority here?
I don’t hear anything about them being ready to provide excellent service to the merchant accounts under their umbrella. So for businesses currently using Worldpay, you need to prepare yourself for a rate increase in the near future. Likely before the end of the year.
Global’s press release from January 12th also states the deal:
- Enables increased cash flow to deliver balance sheet strength and enhanced capital allocation.
- Allows for investment in growth-driving innovation.
- Maintains Global’s investment grade credit ratings.
- Reduce adjusted net leverage 3x within 18-24 months.
What does all of this mean?
Global is literally telling us that they need to pay down the massive debt they took on. And they’re planning to do it quickly.
The easiest way for them to do this is by increasing rates on the new Worldpay merchant accounts.
The New Global Payments
Global Payments was already a powerhouse before they acquired Worldpay. But now, the two companies combined have:
- 6 million merchant accounts
- $3.7 trillion in volume
- 94 billion transactions per year
When looking at the most popular merchant services providers based how many merchant accounts they have, this puts Global tied at #1 with Fiserv and Chase Payments (also with 6 million accounts each).
This gives Global tremendous leverage in how they operate, and how their pricing strategy will have a trickle-down effect to all merchants under their umbrella.
We already saw Global Payments increase rates by 0.20% per transaction on January 1, 2026.
So even non-Worldpay merchants are being impacted by this deal, as Global has already admitted how much they are prioritizing growth and ROI.
It’s the same playbook we’ve seen Global use over the years with other acquisitions (Heartland, TSYS, Cayan, EVO, etc.).
Not only were the new merchant accounts hit with increases. But all merchants under Global’s control were ultimately hit with higher rates and new fees.
My Take
Ever since this deal was first announced, I knew it was going to be bad news for businesses using Worldpay. I’ve just seen it too many times before, and this was too easy to predict.
That said, I don’t know that I was expecting Global’s CEO to be on national television talking about investor returns on the day the deal was completed.
They could at least pretend to be excited about providing excellent customer service to the new accounts they’ve acquired. Or maybe even say that the acquisition will allow them to be priced more competitively.
But neither of these statements would be true.
Global’s priority has been, and apparently always will be, about making as much money as possible on their merchant accounts.
For businesses using Worldpay, I’m planning to write a more detailed guide on what you can expect and how to handle this (which I’ll link here once it’s live). And despite how bad this might sound, I still don’t think it’s worth switching providers over.
Just know that you don’t have to take any future rate hikes on the chin. All processor-imposed markups are negotiable, and there are plenty of steps you can take to push back against Global to get better terms.
Keep an eye out for updates that I’ll continue to publish here on the MCC blog and on my LinkedIn page. I also send out a monthly newsletter if you want any pertinent info about this deal delivered to your inbox.
And if you have any other questions or just want to chat more about how you can avoid getting ripped off without switching providers, book a free consultation, and I’ll personally make sure you’re taken care of.