Shares in Shift4 Payments tumbled Wednesday after President-elect Donald Trump tapped its founder and Chief Executive, Jared Isaacman, to lead NASA. Shift4 stock has gained 47% in 2024.
Isaacman is a private astronaut and close associate of Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who is an advisor to Trump.
Further, Shift4 processes digital payments for Musk's satellite internet service Starlink. Also, Isaacman holds voting control over Shift4 stock.
On the stock market today, Shift4 stock tumbled more than 12% to near 100 in afternoon trading.
Allentown, Pa.-based payment processing company Shift4 gets most of its revenue from customers in the hotel and restaurant industries as well as casinos. Aside from the hotel and restaurant industries, Shift4 has expanded into sports stadiums, airlines and charitable giving as well as food and beverage companies.
Shift4 competes with Clover, owned by Fiserv, as well as Square, owned by Block and Toast, among others.
Meanwhile, Toast Chief Financial Officer Elena Gomez appeared at a UBS conference on Wednesday. She said gross payment volume growth in the fourth quarter was down 3%.
If confirmed, Isaacman would oversee the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's roughly $25 billion budget.
Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
