A Great Business, But Already Priced for Perfection
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Visa’s story began in 1958 when Bank of America launched the Bank America card program. What started as a local credit card pilot eventually built a global infrastructure for moving money. Visa doesn’t actually lend money, issue cards, or take deposits. Instead, it connects banks, merchants, and consumers across more than 200 countries, taking a small slice of every transaction that runs on its rails.
The best part of Visa’s model is its simplicity and sheer scale. Every transaction strengthens the system, drawing in more merchants and consumers, which in turn increases Visa’s worth. It has become the essential, high-margin middleman for global spending, earning huge profits with…
