Activist Jana Builds Stake in Payments Business Fiserv

Lauren Thomas

Tue, February 17, 2026 at 9:00 PM GMT+9 3 min read

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FISV

+0.92%

Fiserv shares fell almost 70% last year. - Caleb Santiago Alvarado/Bloomberg News

Activist investor Jana Partners has built a stake in Fiserv and is pushing for changes to boost the payments company’s underperforming stock, according to people familiar with the matter.

The details

Fiserv, which provides fintech services to banks, credit unions and merchants, had a market value of about $32 billion as of Friday.

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Fiserv shares tumbled almost 70% last year on slowing growth in its core merchant-solutions business and heightened industry competition. Year-to-date, the stock is down over 11%. Much of the drop last year came after Chief Executive Officer Mike Lyons joined and cut prior profit forecasts to reset earnings growth expectations on Wall Street, with the company losing around $30 billion of market value in one day.

Jana has been speaking privately with the Milwaukee-based company about ways to improve its share price, the people said. The investment firm believes Fiserv is poised to benefit from a strong spending environment for banks, the people said.

Jana supports Lyons and his focus on improving execution and refreshing the board, the people added. Lyons was appointed to the role in May from his prior job at PNC Financial. (Fiserv’s former CEO, Frank Bisignano, left to join the Trump administration.)

The exact size of Jana’s stake and whether or not the firm could seek board representation couldn’t be learned.

“During the past several months, we have engaged with many of our shareholders, including Jana Partners,” a spokesperson for Fiserv said in a statement. “We value shareholder perspectives as we drive progress through our One Fiserv action plan.”

The context

Jana is joining with at least one banking industry executive with dealmaking experience on its investment, the people familiar with the matter said.

Jana wants Fiserv to accelerate growth of its core banking franchise and conduct a strategic review to exit nonstrategic assets, the people said. Jana isn’t expected to push for a separation of Fiserv’s payments business from its financial-technology business, a strategy that the firm successfully lobbied for at Fidelity National Information Services in 2022, the people added.

Lyons recently announced fresh strategic initiatives, including its One Fiserv plan, which is focused on winning new enterprise clients and longer-term capital planning. Jana supports the One Fiserv plan, the people familiar with the matter said.

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Late last year, Fiserv hired a new chief financial officer and appointed two co-presidents for the company’s main business segments. It also recently added three new independent directors to its board.

Jana has recently pushed for changes at medical-device maker Cooper Cos. and the big holding company Markel Group, both of which are in the process of conducting their own strategic reviews. It recently called on digital banking platform provider Alkami Technology to explore a sale.

Write to Lauren Thomas at [email protected]

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