Deluxe Corporation is a modern payments and data company. Its four business divisions are B2B payments, data, print, and merchant services. Deluxe has approximately 3 million small businesses and 4,000 financial institutions as customers.
 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Corporate services |
| Founded | 1915, in Saint Paul, Minnesota |
| Headquarters | , United States 55402 |
Key people | Barry McCarthy (President and CEO) Chip Zint (CFO) Cheryl Mayberry McKissack (Chairwoman) |
| Revenue |  US$ 1.8 billion (2020) |
 US$ 44.5 million (2020) | |
| US$ 8.8 million (2020) | |
| Total assets | US$ 1.9 billion (2020) |
| Total equity | US$ 540.8 million (2020) |
Number of employees | 6,500 (2020)[1] |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references [2] | |
Deluxe was previously based in the St. Paul suburb of Shoreview, Minnesota until the company announced in September 2020 that it would move its headquarters to downtown Minneapolis in 2021.[3] Its subsidiary brands include New England Business Services Inc. (NEBS), McBee (formerly Royal McBee) and Checks Unlimited.[4]
Deluxe has facilities in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe to conduct its printing and fulfillment, call center, web server, and administrative functions.[5]
History
1915–1959
Deluxe Corporation was founded as Deluxe Check Printers in Saint Paul, Minnesota by William Roy (W. R.) Hotchkiss,[6] after Hotchkiss secured a $300 loan.[7][8] Hotchkiss was the creator of speed-enhancing inventions, including the Hotchkiss Imprinting Press (patented in 1925), a two-way perforator, and the Hotchkiss Lithograph Press (patented in 1928). He also created the first personal flat-pocket checkbook and holder.[7] For most of its early history, Deluxe was primarily a check printing company. Business service operations were not added until later.[9]
1960–1989
The company was privately held until 1965, during which time it began using magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) check printing technology.[10] By the 1980s, the company was facing reduced demand for its products and increasing competition.[11] In 1988, the company incorporated and changed its name to Deluxe Corporation.[12] In the early 1990s it expanded into customer service for businesses.[9]
1990–present
As use of digital payment systems gained popularity, Deluxe's core business was impacted significantly. In the mid-1990s, the company announced an expansion of its transaction processing and software businesses.[13] Deluxe began selling business forms and supplies, promotional products and branched out to offer other business services, such as payroll.[14] In 1999, Deluxe employed 15,400 people and operated thirteen check-printing plants whereas by 2004, Deluxe employed 9,300, with eight plants.[14] Deluxe acquired small business services provider New England Business Service in 2004.[15] Deluxe shifted its focus from printing products to primarily business services in 2008.[16] It launched an employee background-screening service called HireRight and expanded its service offerings through acquisitions.[16] This included the purchase of Hostopia (web hosting), Logo Mojo (logo design), PartnerUp (market intelligence), and the 2009 acquisition of search engine marketer MerchEngines.[17][16]
From 2010 onward, Deluxe expanded its offerings to include web hosting, marketing services, promotional items, payroll management tools, and other services by acquiring more than fifty companies,[8] including online printing service PsPrint and web-based marketing firm OrangeSoda,[7] email marketing company VerticalResponse (2014),[18] transaction processing company Wausau Financial Services (2014),[19] and logo designer LogoMix (2018),[20] among others. It also began offering echecks.[21]
Deluxe launched a reality television show called Small Business Revolution.[22][23][24] The show is distributed on Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.[1][24][25] Co-hosts have included Baron Davis, Robert Herjavec, Ty Pennington and Amanda Brinkman.[26] In 2021, the show was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle Series.[27]
Deluxe granted at least $750 in company stock to all of its employees in April 2019.[1] Also in 2019, Deluxe secured a contract with Synchrony Financial.[1] In 2020, McCarthy created a new management team, including the company's first-ever chief revenue officer, and instituted a new organizational structure.[1][28] The company announced it would open its FinTech and Customer Innovation Center in Sandy Springs, Georgia, in 2021, focusing on payment and cloud services business.[29][30]
Deluxe acquired First American Payment Systems, a payment processing company, for $960 million in April 2021.[31] The deal was Deluxe's largest to-date,[31] and was aimed at growing Deluxe's digital payments business.[32] First American provides tools for merchants to process in-store and online payments.[32] Barron's reported that First American Payment Systems generated $300 million in revenue and the acquisition was expected to double the annual revenue of Deluxe's payments business.[31]
Company acquisitions
| Year | Company | Business | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | T/Maker | Computer software | Acquired in 1994;[33] formerly an early personal computer software company. It later sold the software product lines of T/Maker to Broderbund. |
| 2004 | NEBS (New England Business Solutions/Services/Systems) | stationery | [34] |
| 2008 | Aplus.net, Hostopia, VerticalResponse | web-hosting companies | [35] |
| 2014 | SiteKreator | Website building | [36] |
| 2016 | 180fusion | digital marketing | Purchased for an undisclosed sum[37][38] |
| 2016 | Liquid Web (assets)/RDM Corporation | Web hosting | Purchased assets from LiquidWeb, which later acquired Rackspace's cloud sites web hosting unit.[37][39] Liquid Web itself was not acquired. |
| 2018 | MyCorporation/LogoMix/First Data | consultation | [40] |
| 2021 | First American Payment Systems | payment systems | [41] |
| 2022 | TELUS Website and Marketing Services | Web hosting | [42] |
Corporate overview
Deluxe Corporation is a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Formerly headquartered in Shoreview, Minnesota,[28] it is now located at 801 South Marquette Avenue in downtown Minneapolis.[3] Deluxe has four business divisions: data, B2B payments, print, and merchant services.[1][43] Deluxe's clients include the Federal Reserve,[1] 3 million small businesses and 4,000 financial institutions.[30] Through its systems for customers to send and receive payments, Deluxe processes more than $2.8 trillion in annual payments.[1][31]
Competitive overview
In 2000 The New York Times described John H. Harland Company' as "the second-largest printer of checks in the United States."[44] Walmart is another company that prints checks.
References
External links
- Official website
- Business data for Deluxe Corporation: