Equifax finalized a deal to purchase Kount for $650 million, following suit after TransUnion acquired iovation in 2018 and Experian acquired 41st Parameter in 2013. Kount will maintain their headquarters in Boise, Idaho, as it becomes a part of Equifax’s United States Information Solutions (USIS) company. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.
Equifax acknowledges the digital migration in the fraud world, and to keep up to pace with fraudsters and the other major credit bureaus, it is adding Kount to their arsenal of fraud prevention capabilities. Equifax stated that the acquisition of Kount adds a powerful set of differentiated data assets that complement their own. With Kount, Equifax now has digital identity assets to complement their traditional identity assets, enabling them to tackle the challenges in managing authentication and online fraud while optimizing the consumer experience.
Leveraging Kount’s patented device fingerprinting technology and other fraud prevention assets will improve Equifax’s global presence in the digital identity and fraud mitigation space. Equifax also benefits from Kount’s client base of more than 9,000 brands.
Together, Equifax and Kount are projected to leverage both digitally native transactions and traditional offline identity fraud risk indicators.
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