Blackhawk Network Holdings
| Public | |
| Traded as | NASDAQ: HAWK |
| Industry | Gift Cards, Prepaid, Payments, and Financial Services |
| Headquarters | Pleasanton, California, United States of America |
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Area served
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Global |
|
Key people
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William Y. Tauscher (Executive Chairman) Talbott Roche (CEO and President) Jerry Ulrich (CFO and Chief Administrative Officer) |
| Website | BlackhawkNetwork.com |
Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc., sometimes referred to as Blackhawk, is a publicly traded company that operates in the prepaid, gift card and payments industries. It supports solutions, technology, management and distribution of branded value such as gift cards, telecom and financial service products. Blackhawk's network reaches people through a number of different channels including in-store, online, mobile, and incentive. Blackhawk is headquartered in Pleasanton, California and was incorporated in 2006.
The company began by selling gift cards through Safeway stores in 2001 and then expanded to other partners in the United States. The Nordstrom gift card was one of the first items launched by the group. The company grew dramatically over the following years by expanding content, channels and markets through organic growth and acquisition. This included the acquisition of the German startup Retailo and the purchase of Parago Inc. for $290 million. In 2013, the company filed for a $200 million IPO on NASDAQ. In 2014, Safeway divested the rest of its Blackhawk Network shares to make Blackhawk a fully independent company.
Blackhawk was formed in 2001 as a subsidiary of Safeway Inc., following the company's decision to diversify into other markets that weren't focused around grocery, in an attempt to grow its portfolio and turnover. The subsidiary of Safeway began as a simple idea to sell gift cards in Safeway Inc. stores across the United States.
The idea for the company came about after the group originally called Safeway Marketing Services and run by Donald Kingsborough came up with the concept of selling gift cards at Safeway stores while researching ways Safeway could grow its business, away from traditional grocery-related products. The idea was to launch gift cards during the holidays in 2001. At the time of launch, the gift card market was relatively small, but it began to grow quickly when Safeway Inc. customers began to become more interested in convenience.
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