05 Apr Fiserv crosses Fortune 500 threshold
Milwaukee, Wis. — Fiserv, Inc., the Brookfield-based provider of financial and health benefits technology, is one of 10 Wisconsin companies to make the annual Fortune 500 list of the largest revenue-producing companies in the United States.
Fiserv, which reported $4.1 billion in annual revenue and earned $516 million in 2005, cracked the list at 488 after ranking 510th last year. The annual ranking will appear in the April 17 issue of Fortune magazine.
Jeff Yabuki, president and CEO of Fiserv, credited the firm’s nearly 22,000 employees, but an aggressive merger and acquisition strategy also has played a role in its explosive growth. Since its inception in 1984, Fiserv has acquired 139 companies, expanding its network to more than 17,000 clients in more than 60 countries.
Perhaps more important than the number of acquisitions is the type of acquisition target. Fiserv has implemented an M&A strategy that emphasizes the purchase of entrepreneurial companies in an attempt to help it stay on the cutting edge of product and service solutions. The company provides information management systems and services, including transactions processing, business process outsourcing, and software and systems solutions.
Fiserv is best known for its financial data services, but has also operated in the health benefits market since its 2001 acquisition of Texas-based Benefit Planners. It now serves self-funded medical, dental, vision, and disability plans.
The Fortune 500 is not the first prominent list that Fiserv has appeared on. In 2004 and 2005, the FinTech 100 survey ranked Fiserv as the largest provider of information technology services to the U.S. financial services industry. The firm also ranked 84th on the 2005 Business Week Info Tech 100.