It's a classic corporate case of the tail wagging the dog. In particular, it's Comdata Corp., a payment processor and prepaid and fleet card provider that generates more than half the profits of its parent company, Bloomington, Minn.-based Ceridian Corp., even though it accounts for only 30% of the revenues. …

Since its launch last April, PayPal Inc.'s m-commerce service, PayPal Mobile, has built an attractive portfolio of original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and brands that want to sell direct to consumers. The list includes Fox Home Entertainment (DVDs), Sony BMG (CDs), NBC/Bravo (television-show merchandise), and the National Basketball Association (team- and …

The booming business in gift and other stored-value cards, which represent an increasing share of sales for merchants of all sizes, is beginning to have an ominous side effect for online merchants: a hike in bad debt. The prepaid plastic, which carries a fixed value in cash and can benefit …

International Card Establishment Inc., which began offering card-processing services a few weeks ago, has signed the first independent sales organization in its ISO program. Midland, Texas-based Foresite Merchant Solutions, formed recently, is I.C.E.'s first ISO client, the company says. Foresite is signing 200 merchant accounts per month, a rate it …

Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store has announced it is accepting PayPal in the U.S. for payment of song downloads, audiobooks, and gift certificates, effective today. The development represents a major breakthrough for the San Jose, Calif.-based payments unit of eBay Inc. and comes a year after the company slashed …

Responding to increasing demand from the independent sales organizations that distribute its ATMs, Fremont, Calif.-based Tranax Technologies Inc. is planning to introduce a low-end multifunction machine toward the end of the year that will combine conventional cash dispensing with typical kiosk functions like ticket and gift-card sales and check cashing …

Magex Ltd., a London-based e-commerce and person-to-person transaction processor, has acquired Open Payment Technologies Inc., a provider of stored-value card systems to restaurants, supermarkets, and other merchants. A price was not disclosed. Phoenix-based OPT will become a division of Magex, and Dave Ingwersen, OPT's president, is assuming the title of …

A Web-based payments transaction processing program has been growing at about 400% annually since it branched out beyond the hospitality industry. When Las Vegas-based Shift4 Corp. developed its $$$ on the Net system for nearby resorts five years ago, the system was designed to allow the hotel, gift shops, casinos, …

NetBank Inc., which bills itself as the nation’s first commercially successful Internet bank, has agreed to acquire privately held Financial Technologies Inc., for cash and $1 million in restricted stock. Tommy Glenn, Jr., founder and president of FTI, says in a statement released today that the combination with NetBank will …