CheckFree Now in Digitizing Business

Financial e-commerce services provider CheckFree Corp. today
announced an agreement to purchase Carreker Corp. for its
software technology and consulting business.

CheckFree said Carreker’s expertise in capturing
the digital image of a paper check will enable the newly combined
organization to convert paper checks into electronic data at an
earlier point in the payments process.

According to a statement, CheckFree will acquire all outstanding
shares of Carreker common stock at a price of
$8.05 per share, for a total purchase price of approximately $206
million on a fully diluted basis.

The proposed acquisition is subject to regulatory review, Carreker
shareholder approval, and other customary closing conditions, but it
is expected to close by March 31. CheckFree will finance the
transaction with a combination of existing cash balances and
revolving debt.

Carreker Chairman and CEO John D. Carreker called the
acquisition the “positive outcome” of his company’s year-long
strategic review.

It’s a positive turn for CheckFree, too.

The last big news from the company came in March 2002 when the tech
boom was well into its bust and heavy investments in e-commerce often
meant heavy losses.

That month, CheckFree closed four offices and cut
450 jobs only weeks after sacking 100 employees in its shuttered San
Francisco office. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2001, the
company lost $363 million.

But if that kind of hemorrhaging is bad for business, then growth is
good and so is this news.

With the buy, CheckFree said it gained more than 250 clients in the
United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Continental Europe, South
American and Australia. Carreker also reported revenues of $116.6
million in fiscal 2005, which ended Jan. 31, 2006.