NEW YORK (Reuters) - Discover Financial Services Inc (DFS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the fourth-biggest U.S. credit card company, and card networks Visa Inc (V.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and MasterCard Inc (MA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have settled an antitrust lawsuit, a court official and MasterCard said on Tuesday, sending Discover's shares up over 16 percent.
In 2004, Discover had filed a lawsuit against MasterCard and Visa seeking roughly $6 billion in damages, as it contended the card networks had harmed its business by preventing their member banks from issuing credit cards for Discover's network.
Visa and MasterCard had already agreed to settle a similar lawsuit with American Express Co (AXP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for about $3.9 billion.
A clerk for Judge Barbara Jones in U.S. District Court in Manhattan said she had no details other than that the parties had reached a settlement. Jury selection starting on Tuesday for a trial before Jones had been canceled.
"MasterCard Inc today confirmed that it has reached an agreement in principle to settle its outstanding litigation with Discover Financial Services Inc," said MasterCard's spokeswoman Sharon Gamsin. "The parties are working on settlement documentation; details of the terms of the settlement will follow."
Representatives for Visa and Discover could not immediately be reached for comment.
U.S. courts have ruled that efforts by Visa and MasterCard, the world's two biggest credit card companies, to restrict banks from working with rivals was anti-competitive and broke antitrust law.
Shares of Discover jumped 16.7 percent to $12.37, while Visa stock was down 2.9 percent to $57.14 and MasterCard was off 0.2 percent to $173.19 in late morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Grant McCool, additional reporting by Martha Graybow and Juan Lagorio; editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
source:. http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1432271920081014
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