Mastercard Agrees to Buy Cyber-Defense Firm for $2.65 Billion

Mastercard Inc. agreed to buy cyber-defense firm Recorded Future for $2.65 billion to boost its ability to protect the card company’s massive global-payments system.

The purchase from private equity firm Insight Partners will expand Mastercard’s ability to use artificial intelligence in protecting customers from cyber threats and fraud, according to a statement Thursday.

Insight Partners took a controlling interest in Recorded Future in 2019 in an all-cash deal that valued the company at more than $780 million. Recorded Future has more than 1,900 clients in 75 countries, Mastercard said in the statement, adding that cybercrime is expected to cost $9.2 trillion globally this year.

“Together we will innovate faster, create smarter models and anticipate emerging threats before cyberattacks can take place –- in payments and beyond,” Craig Vosburg, Mastercard’s chief services officer, said in the statement.

The deal is expected to be completed by the first quarter of next year.

Photo: Photographer: Lionel Ng/Bloomberg