RIVERWOODS, Ill., April 11 (UPI) -- Discover Financial Services' purchase of Diners Club International gives the U.S. company a worldwide customer base, Chief Executive Officer David Nelms says.
The purchase "moves us from being a North American network to a global network," Nelms said Thursday at the company's annual shareholders meeting, Crain's Business Journal reported.
Discover's $165 million purchase of Diners Club from Citigroup Inc. provides Discover with an overseas presence after it sold its Goldfish credit card operations in Britain to Barclays Bank PLC of London for $70 million last month.
The sale was a $172 million loss for Discover, the report said.
Discover's first-quarter report revealed earnings of $81.2 million, a 65 percent decline from the first quarter of 2007, although much of the decline was due to the loss on the Goldfish sale, Crain's reported.
