Visa

In 1958 Bank of America launched BankAmericard, which Visa describes as the first card with a “revolving credit” feature.⁠[1]

It began as a regional credit card, launched by mailing unsolicited cards with a $300 limit to 65,000 Bank of America customers in Fresno, California.⁠[2]

Dee Hock joined the BankAmericard effort in 1968. In 1970 Bank of America placed control of the program with the issuer banks, establishing National BankAmericard with Hock as president and CEO.⁠[2]

In 1969 Hock had gathered bankers in Sausalito to redefine the struggling BankAmericard program.⁠[3]

In 1973 Hock pushed his team to launch VisaNet, making Visa the first to fully digitize point-of-sale card transactions.⁠[3]

In 1976 BankAmericard became Visa, a name that, in the company’s words, “sounds the same in all languages.”⁠[1]

The name came from an internal contest Hock held. He left Visa in 1984, and the company calls him “Visa’s Founder and CEO Emeritus.”⁠[3]

In 1977 National BankAmericard became Visa U.S.A. and IBANCO was rebranded Visa International.⁠[2]

Merchants sued Visa, Mastercard and banks in 2005, accusing them of antitrust violations over swipe fees.⁠[4]

On December 13, 2019, Judge Margo Brodie of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York approved a $5.54 billion class settlement in the litigation (MDL 1720).⁠[5]

On November 10, 2025, Visa and Mastercard reached a new settlement with merchants to replace a $30 billion accord rejected in June 2024: swipe fees would fall 0.1 percentage point for five years, standard consumer card rates would be capped at 1.25% for eight years, and merchants could choose whether to accept commercial, premium consumer and standard consumer cards. Neither company admitted wrongdoing.⁠[6]

In June 2026 Judge Brian Cogan granted preliminary approval to the settlement, which covers more than 12 million merchants, calling it “fair, reasonable, and adequate.” Objectors including the National Retail Federation and Walmart planned further challenges.⁠[4]

On October 3, 2007, Visa Inc. completed its restructuring, under which Visa Canada, Visa U.S.A. and Visa International became its subsidiaries, while Visa Europe remained a membership association, becoming a licensee of Visa Inc. with a minority interest in it. Chairman and CEO Joseph Saunders said the completion “marks a pivotal moment in Visa’s history.”⁠[7]

On March 18, 2008, Visa priced its initial public offering at $44 a share, above its earlier $37–$42 range. JPMorganJPMorgan Chase & Co.JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a financial holding company headquartered in New York that operates investment banking, consumer and small business financial services, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands; its roots trace back to the Manhattan Company of 1799.Open the full entry was Visa’s largest shareholder and lead underwriter.⁠[8]

On March 19, Visa began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “V.” The offering raised $17.86 billion, the largest IPO in U.S. history and the third largest worldwide after Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and NTT Mobile Communications Network.⁠[9]

In December 2009 Standard & Poor’s announced that Visa would join the S&P 500S&P 500The S&P 500 is a U.S. large-cap equity index compiled by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It includes 500 leading companies, covers about 80% of available market capitalization and is described by S&P DJI as “widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities.”Open the full entry after the close of trading on December 18, replacing telecommunications and network equipment company Ciena.⁠[10]

On July 21, 2010, Visa completed its acquisition of Nasdaq-listed CyberSource at $26.00 per share, for total consideration of about $2.0 billion in cash. The deal expanded Visa’s online payment, fraud and security management capabilities.⁠[11]

On October 24, 2012, Visa announced that Charles Scharf would become CEO effective November 1. Scharf had led JPMorgan Chase’s Retail Financial Services for nine years. Joseph Saunders, CEO since 2007, stayed on as executive chairman through March 31, 2013.⁠[12]

On September 10, 2013, S&P Dow Jones IndicesS&P Dow Jones IndicesS&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) is a global index provider that compiles and licenses benchmark indices including the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It was formed in 2012 by combining McGraw-Hill’s S&P index business with the Dow Jones Indexes business held by a joint venture of CME Group and Dow Jones, and it is now the index business division of S&P Global, which holds about 73% of the interest.Open the full entry announced that Visa would join the Dow Jones Industrial Average at the opening of trading on September 23, replacing Hewlett-Packard, while Goldman SachsGoldman SachsGoldman Sachs is an American financial services group headquartered in New York whose businesses include investment banking, securities trading, asset management, and wealth management. It traces its origins to the commercial paper business Marcus Goldman founded in 1869; it listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1999 under the ticker GS and became a bank holding company in 2008. David Solomon serves as chairman and chief executive officer.Open the full entry and Nike replaced Bank of America and Alcoa. The changes were prompted by the low stock prices of the three companies removed and the index committee’s wish to diversify the index’s sector representation.⁠[13]

On November 2, 2015, Visa Inc. announced it would acquire Visa Europe for upfront consideration of €16.5 billion (€11.5 billion in cash and €5 billion in preferred stock) plus an earn-out of up to €4.7 billion, for a total value of up to €21.2 billion. Member-owned Visa Europe had operated independently in Europe since 2004 under an exclusive, irrevocable and perpetual license.⁠[14]

The acquisition was completed on June 21, 2016. The combined company served about 17,100 financial institution clients and partners, more than 40 million merchant outlets and 3 billion Visa accounts, with Visa-branded products enabling about $6.8 trillion in annual payments volume.⁠[15]

On October 17, 2016, Visa announced that Scharf would resign as CEO effective December 1 and be succeeded by board member Alfred F. Kelly Jr., a former president of American Express. Scharf said he “could no longer spend the time in San Francisco necessary to do the job effectively.”⁠[16]

Visa had planned to buy fintech company PlaidPlaidPlaid is a financial technology company co-founded by Zach Perret and William Hockey and headquartered in San Francisco. It provides infrastructure connecting financial accounts with applications, with products spanning account verification, payments, lending and fraud prevention, and develops AI models for financial transactions. A planned acquisition by Visa was terminated in 2021.Open the full entry for $5.3 billion. The Justice Department sued in 2020 to block the deal, arguing it would let Visa maintain its monopoly position in online debit. On January 12, 2021, Visa called off the purchase because of the lawsuit, and CEO Kelly said the litigation would likely take substantial time to fully resolve.⁠[17]

Visa announced the acquisition of Tink in June 2021 at a valuation of €1.8 billion.⁠[18]

Visa completed the acquisition on March 10, 2022. Founded in Stockholm in 2012, Tink is a leading European open banking platform connected to more than 3,400 banks and financial institutions.⁠[19]

On November 17, 2022, Visa announced that Ryan McInerney, president since 2013, would become CEO on February 1, 2023, with Kelly, CEO since 2016, becoming executive chairman of the board. McInerney said, “I am honored and humbled to become the newest CEO of Visa.”⁠[20]

On September 24, 2024, the Justice Department sued Visa, alleging it monopolizes U.S. debit markets: about 60% of U.S. debit transactions run on Visa’s network, earning it over $7 billion in fees a year, and Visa imposes “disloyalty penalties” on merchants and banks that use alternatives. Visa called the suit “meritless.”⁠[21]

In June 2025 U.S. District Judge John Koeltl denied Visa’s motion to dismiss, finding that granting it would amount to “the premature resolution of factual issues,” and the case proceeded.⁠[22]

In fiscal 2025, 329 billion payments and cash transactions with Visa’s brand were processed, with payments and cash volume of $17 trillion, at more than 175 million merchant locations. Visa had about 34,100 employees.⁠[23]

On October 27, 2026, Visa released results for fiscal 2026, ended September 30: net revenue of $45.903 billion, up 15%, and GAAP net income of $23.504 billion, up 17%, or $12.32 per diluted Class A share. Visa raised its quarterly dividend 16% to $0.780 per share. McInerney called it “a milestone year.”⁠[24]