Discover Financial Services—ad spending, facts and profile

Overview Discover Financial Services is a digital banking and payment services company. Capital One Financial Corp. in February 2024 signed a deal to acquire Discover. Discover’s headquarters is in Riverwoods, Illinois, near Chicago. Business segments and operations Discover offers credit cards, personal loans, home loans and deposit products. It also operates the Discover Network, the Pulse Network and Diners Club International, collectively known as the Discover Global Network. The Discover Network processes transactions for Discover-branded credit and debit cards and provides payment transaction processing and settlement services. Pulse operates an electronic funds transfer network, providing financial institutions issuing debit cards on the Pulse network with access to automated teller machines domestically and internationally, as well as merchant acceptance in the U.S. for debit card transactions. Diners Club is a global payments network of licensees, which are generally financial institutions, that issue Diners Club-branded charge cards and/or provide card acceptance services. See more: Discover’s business and products Marketing spending Ad Age Datacenter ranked Discover among U.S. advertisers based on Discover’s stated “marketing and business development” expenses. Discover also disclosed “advertising costs” of $359 million in 2023, up 16.7% from $307 million in 2022. Advertising costs are part of Discover’s marketing and business development expense line. The company disclosed the following marketing and business development expenses: 2023 (year ended Dec. 31, 2023): $1.164 billion 2022 (year ended Dec. 31, 2022): $1.035 billion 2021 (year ended Dec. 31, 2021): $810.0 million 2020 (year ended Dec. 31, 2020): $659.0 million 2019 (year ended Dec. 31, 2019): $883.0 million 2018 (year ended Dec. 31, 2018): $857.0 million 2017 (year ended Dec. 31, 2017): $776.0 million 2016 (year ended Dec. 31, 2016): $731.0 million 2015 (year ended Dec. 31, 2015): $745.0 million 2014 (year ended Dec. 31, 2014): $735.0 million 2013 (year ended Dec. 31, 2013): $717.0 million 2012 (year ended Nov. 30, 2012): $603.0 million 2011 (year ended Nov. 30, 2011): $537.5 million 2010 (year ended Nov. 30, 2010): $463.1 million 2009 (year ended Nov. 30, 2009): $406.0 million 2008 (year ended Nov. 30, 2008): $530.9 million 2007 (year ended Nov. 30, 2007): $576.3 million The 10-K annual regulatory filing for the year ended December 2023 said: “The marketing and business development increase was due primarily from growth investments in consumer banking products.” The 10-K for the year ended December 2022 said: “The increase in marketing and business development was driven by growth investments in card and consumer banking.” The 10-K for the year ended December 2021 said marketing and business development costs “increased due to growth investments, primarily in card, and increased brand marketing.” The 10-K for the year ended December 2020 said marketing costs decreased “due to COVID-19 related expense reductions in brand advertising for card.” Brand and advertising management: The 10-K for the year ended December 2023 said this about brand and advertising management: “We maintain a full-service marketing department charged with delivering integrated mass and direct communications to foster customer engagement with our products and services. “We also leverage strategic partnerships and sponsorship properties such as the NHL and the Big Ten Conference to help drive loan growth. “Our brand team utilizes consumer insights and market intelligence to define our mass communication strategy, create multi-channel advertising messages and develop marketing partnerships with sponsorship properties. This work is performed in-house as well as with a variety of external agencies and vendors.” Links to Ad Age’s advertiser rankings Latest rankings: U.S. The Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2024 ranking was released Oct. 28, 2024. Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2024 U.S. ad spending, rankings, analysis and profiles for the biggest marketers Click here Past rankings: U.S. Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2023 Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2022 Latest rankings: worldwide The Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2024 ranking was released Dec. 9, 2024. Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2024 Global ad spending, rankings, analysis and profiles for the biggest marketers Click here Past rankings: worldwide Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2023 Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2022 Financial results See more: Discover financial results Read Discover’s annual filing Deals and strategic moves Acquisition by Capital One (pending as of April 2025): Capital One in February 2024 signed a deal to buy rival Discover in an all-stock transaction valued at $35.3 billion. Other deals and strategic moves: Discover in 2012 bought Tree.com’s Home Loan Center business. (Tree.com in 2015 changed its corporate name to LendingTree.) Discover in 2010 bought Student Loan Corp., a private student-loan business in which Citigroup’s Citibank previously had an 80% stake. Student Loan Corp. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Discover Bank. Discover stopped accepting new applications for private student loans in 2024. Citigroup in June 2008 sold Diners Club International, a credit card services operation, to Discover for $168 million. Diners Club has network licensees—generally financial institutions—that issue Diners Club-branded credit cards and/or provide card acceptance services. Management and employees See more: Discover management See more: Discover careers Stock Discover trades on the New York Stock Exchange. Ticker: DFS History Discover was started by Sears, Roebuck & Co. as part of the retailer’s efforts in the 1980s to create a financial supermarket. Sears launched the Discover credit card nationally in 1986 following test marketing in 1985. Sears spun off Dean Witter, Discover & Co. in 1993. Dean Witter, Discover & Co. merged with Morgan Stanley Group in 1997. Morgan Stanley spun off Discover Financial Services to shareholders in 2007. Rival Mastercard went public in 2006. Visa went public in 2008. Sears Holdings Corp., the parent of Sears, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in October 2018. ESL Investments, through its Transform Holdco LLC affiliate, in February 2019 bought the key assets of Sears Holdings Corp. ESL Investments is run by Edward Lampert, the former chairman-CEO of Sears Holdings. See more: Discover’s history Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2024 U.S. ad spending, rankings, analysis and profiles for the biggest marketers Click here

Discover Financial Services—ad spending, facts and profile

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