Priority Technology Holdings agrees to go private in a CEO-led buyout

Priority Technology Holdings agrees to go private in a CEO-led buyout

21 September 2026 — Priority Technology Holdings, a US payments-technology company operating Priority Commerce, Priority Enterprise Payments and MSTS, said on 21 September 2026 that it has signed a definitive agreement to be taken private by an investor group led by its own chairman and chief executive, Thomas Priore. Under the deal, disclosed in the company's own SEC filings (Form 8-K and DEFA14A), stockholders receive $8.05 in cash per share — a premium the company states at 65% over the unaffected share price — for an enterprise value of about $1.6 billion.

What's changing

• Priority will stop trading as a public company once the deal closes. A special committee of independent, disinterested directors unanimously recommended the transaction, according to the company's own statement.
• This is an all-cash buyout by an investor group led by Priority's own leadership, not a merger with another operating payments company, so Priority's existing product lines and management are expected to continue rather than be folded into an acquirer's platform.
• Closing needs shareholder and regulatory approval and is expected in the first half of 2027 — the transaction has not closed.

Why it matters if you use Priority's payment products

• Going private removes the quarterly public-disclosure cadence a buyer may currently use to judge the company's financial health; ask your account team what reporting, if any, will continue to be shared with customers once it is private.
• A CEO-led buyout, rather than a sale to a rival processor, signals continuity of strategy rather than integration into someone else's platform — useful context if you were concerned a competitor might absorb and discontinue a product you depend on.
• Confirm with Priority directly whether any of your own contract terms reference its status as a public company; take-private deals can trigger clauses written around that status.

Sources

• Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. — SEC Form 8-K — 21 September 2026
• Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. — SEC Form DEFA14A — 21 September 2026
• Yahoo Finance: Priority Technology Holdings Announces $1.6 Billion Take-Private Agreement at $8.05 Per Share — 21 September 2026
• InsideArbitrage: CEO Thomas Priore Led Investor Group to Take Priority Technology Private for $1.6 Billion — 22 September 2026