Payment technology company Global Payments could acquire Total System Services. Citing people familiar with the matter (and who refused to be named), a CNBC report claims that the two companies are nearing a $20 billion all-stock deal, expected to be announced Tuesday.In 2018, the company expressed plans to acquire restaurant payment technology company SICOM Systems for $415 million. Total System, on the other hand, acquired small business solution payment company iMobile3 last year, and merchant payment company TransFirst in 2016. Bloomberg reported that Global Payments and Total System Services were engaged in preliminary talks about the deal on Thursday.

The company announced that it had licensed its name and branding to WENN Digital for the development of a unique digital media rights platform using blockchain, backed by their unique cryptocurrency called “KODAKCoin”. The official announcement details "an encrypted, digital ledger of rights ownership for photographers," – essentially, photographers will use blockchain to register works.This is a potentially exciting development for photographers, who have long struggled to control the use of their work in the wild-west world of digital. Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke described the goals behind the technology in a statement: “‘Blockchain' and 'cryptocurrency' are hot buzzwords…[that] are the keys [for photographers] to solving what felt like an unsolvable problem.