Visa Inc. is an American financial services company that facilitates electronic money transfers globally. The Company was founded by Dee Hock in September 1958 with headquarters in Fresno, California. The Company went public on March 18, 2008, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker ‘V‘.
Visa connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses, strategic partners, and government entities to electronic payments. It offers a debit card, credit card, prepaid products, commercial payment solutions, and global ATM centers.
Visa manages the Plus automated teller machine network and the Interlink EFTPOS point-of-sale network. The two services facilitate the ‘debit’ protocol used with debit cards and prepaid cards. Furthermore, Visa’s transaction processing network enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions.
It provides its financial institution and merchant clients with a range of products, platforms, and value-added services. Its products and services include core products, processing infrastructure, transaction processing services, digital products, merchant products, risk products, and payment security initiatives.
Visa main competitors
- Mastercard
- American Express
- Capital one
- PayPal
- Discover Card
Key Visa milestones
On March 18, 2008, Visa’s IPO went live, selling 406 million shares at $44 per share, raising $17.9 billion in what was then the largest initial public offering in U.S. history at the moment.
As of December 2020, Visa was the world’s second-largest card payment organization after being surpassed by China UnionPay.
Visa partnered with Apple in September 2014 to incorporate a new mobile wallet feature into Apple’s new iPhone models, enabling users to use their Visa and other credit/debit cards more readily.
In 2013 Visa unveiled Visa Checkout, an online payment platform that eliminates the need to share card details with retailers. The Visa Checkout service allows users to enter all their details and card information, then use a single username and password to make purchases from online retailers. The service works with Visa credit, debit, and prepaid cards.
Visa Frequently Asked Questions
Has Visa split its stock?
The company had two splits in its history.
Does Visa pay dividends?
Visa pays dividends quarterly.
How does Mastercard differ from Visa?
Mastercard and Visa work very similarly to one another. The main difference between MasterCard and Visa is that they both offer different extra benefits and rewards.
