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For all the publicity on digital payments, most consumers still rely on good old plastic cards to transact - and someone has to make them! Now that Fiserv owns First Data, all of its plastic-card sales will be booked as revenue.The company noted that this restatement of past plastics revenue “created a headwind" for its results.
Turns out, those generate different kinds of revenue. The old First Data business generated only pass-through revenue by reselling cards it had purchased. So it looked much smaller on quarterly revenue results. But Fiserv booked the entire card sale as revenue, making it look bigger. Now that Fiserv owns First Data, all of its plastic-card sales will be booked as revenue, and past results will be restated along those lines. The company noted on Wednesday during its earnings call that this restatement of past plastics revenue “created a headwind" for its results. Analysts, take heed.
