Blackhawk Network and PayPal Collaborate to Bring Gift Card Services to the Digital Wallet

PLEASANTON, Calif., Oct. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackhawk Network today announced that it will be collaborating with PayPal to bring gift card services to the digital wallet. This relationship will bring Blackhawk Network's broad range of physical gift cards and eGifts, issued by many of the world's top brands, and its digital platform capabilities to PayPal's millions of consumers in the U.S.

For years, consumers have been embracing gift cards and by working together PayPal and Blackhawk Network will address the biggest consumer pain points:

• Ensuring gift cards are always available at their fingertips
• Providing easy ways to check balances
• Ability to simply purchase and reload cards

"We are pleased to be working with PayPal, an innovator in online, mobile and retail payments.  By allowing millions of PayPal account holders to more easily purchase, spend and reload their gift cards, we will not only improve the consumer experience with gift cards, but we will help drive increased sales for participating retail brands," said Talbott Roche, president, Blackhawk Network. She added, "PayPal will leverage Blackhawk's Digital Platform API's to support retail gift sales, and marketing,  connecting consumers to retailers through one of the industry's premier omni-channel platforms."

"Our collaboration with Blackhawk Network will provide a seamless way for consumers to purchase and spend gift cards through a PayPal account that can be accessed on a mobile device or online," said Patrick Gauthier, general manager, PayPal's Emerging Retail Services. "Digitizing gift cards is one of the many ways PayPal is connecting consumers and merchants to deliver personalized commerce. This collaboration is another example of PayPal's work with industry leaders, such as Blackhawk Network, as together we continue to bridge the online and in-store worlds of commerce, helping to drive the adoption of digital payments."

While the relationship breaks new ground for gift cards, PayPal and Blackhawk Network will also work together on the following:

• Distribution – Distribution for PayPal reloadable debit card across Blackhawk's extensive network of physical retail merchant locations
• Cash-in – Integration of Blackhawk Network's ReLoadIt network with PayPal's prepaid debit and reloadable solutions, delivering convenient cash-in and account top-up solutions to PayPal consumers at tens of thousands of Blackhawk Network retail merchant locations

Blackhawk and PayPal anticipate deploying products and services together in the first half of 2014.

About Blackhawk Network 
Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAWK) is a leading prepaid payment network which supports the distribution of gift cards, prepaid telecom products and financial service products across a global network. Blackhawk's digital platform supports prepaid across a network of digital distribution partners including etailers, financial service providers, and mobile wallets.  For more information, please visit www.blackhawknetwork.com.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such statements relate to, among other things, enhanced distribution of products and services, future deployment of products and services, and other benefits of the partnership.  Forward-looking statements are indicated by words or phrases such as "guidance," "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "plans," "continuing," "ongoing," and similar words or phrases and the negative of such words and phrases. Forward-looking statements are based on our current plans and expectations and involve risks and uncertainties which are, in many instances, beyond our control, and which could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in or contemplated or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include the following: the risk that the acquisition may not close; our ability to integrate InteliSpend into our company and to realize the potential benefits of the acquisition; our ability to grow at historic rates or at all; the consequences should we lose one or more of our top distribution partners or fail to attract new distribution partners to our network or if the financial performance of our distribution partners' businesses decline; our reliance on our content providers, the demand for their products and our exclusivity arrangements with them; our reliance on relationships with card issuing banks; the consequences to our future growth if our distribution partners fail to actively and effectively promote our products and services; the requirement that we comply with applicable laws and regulations, including increasingly stringent money-laundering rules and regulations; risks related to our ongoing relationship with Safeway; and other risks and uncertainties described in our reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the registration statement filed in connection with our initial public offering and our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect developments or information obtained after the date hereof and disclaim any obligation to do so other than as may be required by law.

Contact: Investors/Analysts:
Patrick Cronin
(925) 226-9973
[email protected]

Media
Teri Llach
(925) 226-9028
[email protected]

Steve Mnich
(415) 464-6422
smnich (at) mww (dot) com

SOURCE Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc.