Activist investor Jana Partners has built a stake in Fiserv and is now pressing the fintech to make moves to boost its share price, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Jana revealed in a filing that it has bought 2.2 million shares in Fiserv, a stake of less than one per cent. The news sent Fiserv’s share price up by over six per cent.
That rise comes after a 2025 that saw the payments giant’s stock fall more than 67%, prompting CEO Mike Lyons to state late last year: “Our current performance is not where we want it to be nor where our stakeholders expect it to be.”
Lyons responded with the launch of the One Fiserv action plan to improve execution and refresh the board, both of the which have Jana’s backing, according to the WSJ, citing sources.
Jana also wants Fiserv to speed up expansion of its core banking operations and to begin another strategic review that could include offloading non-core operations, the report adds. However, the investor is not expected to push for a split of the payments and fintech businesses.
Says a Fiserv statement: “During the past several months, we have engaged with many of our shareholders, including Jana Partners. We value shareholder perspectives as we drive progress through our One Fiserv action plan.”
