Paul Galant will leave the CEO post at Verifone in the next few months following a tenure in which he helped diversify and automate Verifones merchant acquiring business and led a recovery from a series of strategic and economic missteps Michael Pulli will replace Paul Galant as CEO of Verifone when its 34 billion deal with Francisco Partners closes The private equity firm announced in April that it would take Verifone private in a deal that is scheduled to close during the third quarter Pulli has served as CEO of Pace plc a UK-based broadband company that was acquired by Arris and has served in several positions in the wireless industry Paul Galant CEO of Verifone Pulli has a legacy of maximizing value and finding the right acquirer for a company with a hardware focus said Richard Crone a payments consultant adding Pulli would likely fulfill the common PE acquisition strategy of preparing a company for an eventual sale in the long term Thats what he did at Pace Galant will remain with Verifone as Vice Chairman and will be a senior advisor on payment strategy to Francisco Partners according to a release Verifone did not return a request for comment on Monday afternoon There is always a lot of pressure on finding the right leadership in a company that finds itself on the saturation stage Verifone at its roots is a hardware company that has tried to add software an integrations on top of that Crone said Galant a former Citigroup executive who joined Verifone in 2013 oversaw Verifones transition from what Galant called self-inflicted wounds such as poor financial returns delayed technology projects and illegal business deals in Iran Verifone diversified under Galants leadership adding more digital transaction capabilities to serve retailers under pressure to add e-commerce tools as Amazon and other online retail options began to squeeze traditional merchants Galant also led an effort to open Verifones technology to third party developers to spot merchant innovation earlier in the cycle and further boost its mobile commerce strength The result was improved financial performance enough to draw 34 billion from Francisco Partners a deal that will make Verifone a cleanup hitter in a broad fintech lineup that includes mobile payment provider mobile wallet company Paysafe and merchant services technology company NMI Verifones attractiveness to Francisco is partly a testament to CEO Paul Galants turnaround Beyond Verifones internal problems it faced a growing market for mobile point of sale devices spearheaded by Square Squares pitch was less about technology and more about ease of access small merchants that didnt want to contend with Verifones customer service issues could instead pick up a card reader at any convenience store for just 10 Verifone tried to match this with products like PayWare Mobile and Sail but neither device reclaimed much ground against Square Verifones turnaround was gradual but in the past two years it has sharpened its move from payment terminal-based company to a software provider The strategy is showing some effect despite headwinds from the EMV migration as CEO Paul Galant noted in the companys earnings report on March 8 If you look at all of the growth in the market its mobile with no hardware at all Crone said Thats the world Verifone needs to navigate to find value