Visa and Plaid have terminated their merger agreement after the US Justice Department filed suit to block the combination over competition concenrns.
The DoJ filed its antitrust complaint in federal court in November in an effort to scupper the blockbuster $5.3 billion takeover, insisting it "must be stopped".
The Justice Department determined that the acquisition of Plaid by Visa would eliminate a nascent competitive threat to the card scheme's own business.
Announcing the decision to scrap the deal, Al Kelly, chairman and CEO of Visa says: “We are confident we would have prevailed in court as Plaid’s capabilities are complementary to Visa’s, not competitive. However, it has been a full year since we first announced our intent to acquire Plaid, and protracted and complex litigation will likely take substantial time to fully resolve.”
Plaid says that although the two companies would have been a "great combination," it will now work with Visa as an investor and partner to "fully focus on building the infrastructure to support fintech".