Who Owns Visa?

Visa is a global payment card services corporation based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1958 by Bank of America as the BankAmericard. Visa-branded products like credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards facilitate electronic transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities across over 200 countries and territories. As of Jan 2024, the company had around 28,800 employees. [1]

Visa leads digital payments globally and is one of the most valuable companies. It connects individuals, businesses, and economies to help them thrive. In 2023, Visa reported a 9% rise in payment volume and a 10% surge in processed transactions. The growth increased Visa’s annual net revenue by 11%. [2]

Visa offers an innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure payment network. The company stays ahead of the competition by expanding its platform to meet emerging consumer needs. In Apr 2024, Visa released enhancements to support merchants and improve commerce experiences.

The new features include AI-powered Developer Assist on the Visa Acceptance Platform to simplify integration with partners for over 450 payment service providers (PSPs) and over 450,000 monthly active users across 160 countries.

Sellers can now use Visa’s “Tap to Phone” on a certified smartphone to accept contactless payments. This new tool went live in 121 countries with over 6.7 million active terminals. [3]

Visa relies on strategic partnerships to extend its reach. Thousands of businesses use Visa cards to simplify transactions for their customers.

In May 2024, Getmyboat partnered with Visa’s Platinum, Signature & Infinite cardholders. This partnership will enhance customers’ travel and leisure experiences by offering unparalleled access to boating adventures. But who owns Visa? [4]

Table of Contents

Who is Visa’s Parent Company?

Visa is a public company trading on the NYSE under the V ticker symbol. It doesn’t have a parent organization or sole owner but answers to its shareholders, including institutional and retail investors and the general public.

Visa and Mastercard are the two top US card networks and fierce rivals. In Mar 2024, Visa and Mastercard agreed to cap interchange fees for five years and settle merchant litigation that lasted nearly two decades. [5]

One of the top challenges facing card networks is fraud detection and management. Visa provides several tools to enhance security in digital payments. In Mar 2024, Visa introduced three AI-powered risk and fraud prevention solutions.

Issuers can use Visa Deep Authorization (VDA) to mitigate challenges due to the rising complexity of digital fraud. The company expanded Visa Advanced Authorization (VAA) and Visa Risk Manager (VRM) for non-Visa card payments to streamline fraud detection and protection. [6]

Visa offers nearly 200 products across five categories – acceptance, advisory, issuing, open banking, and protection. The company seeks to deliver its solutions to more businesses globally.

In Apr 2024, Visa joined the AWS Partner Network to enable its partners and clients to access and integrate select Visa services more efficiently. Visa also announced that it is now part of the AWS Activate startup program.

Visa Fintech Fast Track clients can receive up to $100,000 in AWS Activate credits to jumpstart their growth and enter the market quickly. Many startups are benefiting from Visa Ready and Fintech Fast Track. [7]

Visa uses several marketing strategies to promote its products globally. The firm sponsors sports teams and events to enhance brand awareness. In Jan 2023, Visa announced its entry into Formula One with Red Bull’s second team, Scuderia AlphaTauri.

It is Visa’s first new global sports sponsorship agreement in 15 years. The team rebranded to Visa Cash App RB F1 Team and started the season with drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda. [8]

Image Credit: CardMapr.nl

Visa Ownership History

Visa’s journey started as BankAmericard, launched by Bank of America (BofA) in 1958. It was America’s first consumer credit card program. In 1966, BofA began signing licensing agreements with US banks to counter its new competitor, Master Charge (MasterCard).

BofA formed a network of banks backing the BankAmericard system. BankAmericard expanded internationally in 1974 and introduced the debit card in 1975.

Consumers outside the US accessed BankAmericard credit and debit cards from their local banks and bank alliances. Each market had different BankAmericards, such as Chargex in Canada, Carte Bleue in France, Barclaycard in the UK, and Sumitomo Card in Japan.

In 1976, BankAmericard rebranded to Visa, a name that sounds the same in all languages. All BankAmericard licensees were united under Visa. The name was conceived by Dee Hock, the company’s founder. [9]

Visa comprised four separately incorporated non-stock companies: Visa International Service Association (VISA), Visa USA Inc., Visa Canada, and Visa Europe Ltd. Hock created the Visa card with international flags’ colors blue, white, and gold.

In Oct 2005, the brand merged some of its business under Visa Inc. It filed for a $10 billion IPO in Nov 2007, went public in Mar 2008, and started trading on the NYSE with the V ticker symbol. The IPO sold 406 million shares for $17.9 billion and transferred Visa ownership to shareholders. [10]

Image Credit: Clay Banks

Visa Shareholder Structure

Visa Inc. is a public company owned by its shareholders. However, Visa Europe is member-owned. As of Dec 2023, Visa had 245,513,385 Stock A shares, 9,273,174 Stock B, 3,000,000 Stock C, and 2,000,000 Stock E.

These four share classes have zero votes. The company has 1,574,151,974 Stock D shares with one vote. This figure includes 1,564,873,101 free-float shares held by institutional investors and the general public. [11]

Companies make exchange offers to invite shareholders to swap their existing securities for new ones with different terms and conditions. This strategy can reduce the company’s debt burden, improve credit rating, extend maturity profile, and increase financial flexibility.

In Apr 2024, Visa held an initial exchange offer to swap its Class B-1 common stock shares for Class B-2, Class C, or cash instead of fractional shares. Participating holders received one-half of a newly issued Class B-2 common stock or new Class C shares worth one-half of a Class B-1 share. [12]

Visa’s shareholder structure has 5,028 institutions. As of Dec 2023, Vanguard Group was Visa’s largest institutional shareholder, with 9.03%. This figure represents 142.2 million shares. Blackrock Inc. is Visa’s second-largest institutional shareholder with 8.09% or 127.33 million shares, followed by State Street Corp at 4.66%, FMR LLC at 3.37%, Morgan Stanley at 3.35%, Price T.Rowe Associates at 2.86%, Geode Capital at 2.22%, and Bank of America at 1.56%. [13]

Visa’s shareholder structure has several insiders. They own 0.63% of the company. As of Apr 2024, Officer Rajat Taneja was Visa’s top insider shareholder, with 232,112 shares. CEO Ryan McInerney is second with 211,854 shares, followed by Director Francisco Fernández-Carbajal at 31,599, Director Denise Morrison at 8,495, and Chairman John Lundgren at 8,131. In Apr 2024, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 Visa shares for $250,472. The sale reduced Carney’s stake to 2,591 shares. [14]

References & more information