Dive Brief:
- Tempe, Arizona-based Gen Digital has agreed to acquire New York-based fintech MoneyLion in a cash transaction valued at roughly $1 billion to bolster Gen’s credit and identity protection solutions, the companies announced Tuesday.
- Gen will pay $82 per share in cash at closing. Gen is a global firm with cyber safety brands like Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, ReputationDefender, and CCleaner under its umbrella.
- The proposed acquisition, approved by both the parties’ board of directors, is expected to close in the first half of Gen’s fiscal year 2026, pending regulatory and MoneyLion shareholders’ approvals, according to an investor presentation.
Dive Insight:
“Joining Gen accelerates our vision by leveraging their global reach, trusted brands, and powerful ecosystem,” Dee Choubey, CEO of MoneyLion, said in a statement Tuesday.
In recent years, MoneyLion doubled down on artificial intelligence to streamline customer experience. The acquisition will bring MoneyLion’s personal financial management tools and embedded financial marketplaces to Gen's users, while leveraging Gen’s robust identity and cybersecurity solutions, he added.
The acquisition will combine “innovative fintech products and experiences with Gen's trusted network to empower smarter financial decisions and secure people's digital and financial lives,” Choubey said.
The transaction will more than double Gen’s addressable market to over $50 billion while supporting the company's long-term financial strategy, according to an investor presentation.
“Through adding MoneyLion to our family of trusted consumer brands we’ll extend our Cyber Safety and Financial Wellness offerings to further empower and protect people, no matter where they are in their financial journey,” a spokesperson for Gen told Banking Dive via email.
Gen cannot comment beyond the materials posted on its investor relations site until the deal is closed, the spokesperson added.
MoneyLion did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gen has customers across 150 countries, according to the press release. In September 2022, NortonLifeLock merged with Avast and adopted the name Gen Digital.
MoneyLion shareholders will receive a contingent value right per share at closing, potentially entitling them to $23 in Gen common stock if Gen's average volume-weighted average share price reaches $37.50 over 30 consecutive trading days from Tuesday within 24 months after closing.
“We believe MoneyLion differentiates itself via its two-sided consumer finance ecosystem, which leverages its unique partner network and data analytics to efficiently match consumers with relevant financial products,” Oppenheimer analysts wrote in a research note Tuesday. “We expect lower interest rates and a more favorable regulatory environment could stimulate more borrowing and enable greater focus on product innovation.”
The deal, expected to close between the second and third quarter of 2025, involves little risk in gaining regulatory approval since antitrust isn’t likely to be an issue, analysts predicted.
Rationale behind the deal could include the ability to cross-sell MoneyLion's products to 500 million Gen subscribers, with the potential to target higher-income consumers beyond MoneyLion's existing customer base, the analysts noted.
MoneyLion, which went public in 2021, is an AI-powered fintech platform offering a consumer finance app, embedded finance and media services to 18 million customers. In February, MoneyLion announced its partnership with EY US, aimed at leveraging the fintech’s embedded marketplace infrastructure to serve smaller and mid-sized financial institutions.
In the third quarter, MoneyLion generated $135 million in revenue and reported a net loss of $2.8 million, according to its earnings report.
“By bringing MoneyLion into the Gen family, we're not only helping people protect what they already have, we're extending our capabilities to enable people to better manage and grow their financial wealth,” Gen CEO Vincent Pilette said in a statement.
