With over 230 million active Mastercard users in the US and many more worldwide, trillions of dollars in payments processed a year, and tens of billions in annual revenue, Mastercard is an important part of how people live and spend money. Mastercard and Visa are by far the largest credit card companies in the world, with Mastercard somewhat smaller but still far ahead of its next competitor. This is reflected in sustained, multi-billion profits.
Launched in 1967 by a consortium of California banks including Wells Fargo, Mastercard expanded across the US before acquiring the Swedish / Belgian Eurocard brand in 1968. Operating its international debit card business under the trade name ‘Maestro’, Mastercard grew swiftly and organically and by acquisition became a market leader. Major acquisitions include British fraud risk manager DataCash in 2010 and American artificial intelligence firm Brighterion in 2017. In 2021, Mastercard announced it would support cryptocurrency transactions directly on its network for the first time, adding these to the 150 currencies it already supports.
Mastercard makes money by charging a small fee to the cardholder’s bank to process, clear, and settle payments. International payments are more lucrative than domestic, and Mastercard’s revenues are directly linked to the volume processed. Profits are expected to rise following moves in certain regions towards card payments over cash. Risks to Mastercard’s business model include anti-trust action, as the control of the US market by three companies made all three the target of lawsuits in 2005. These claims were eventually settled out of court for a multi-billion settlement, but some merchants still believe Mastercard, Visa, and American Express operate a pricing cartel and have vowed to continue fighting them in court.
Mastercard became a publicly traded company in 2006, listing on the New York Stock Exchange at $39 per share. As Mastercard is included in the S&P500, its stock is very popular with institutional investors, with Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street the largest institutional investors. The largest single shareholder is the Mastercard Foundation with over 10% of total shares.
In order to buy Mastercard shares, simply log on to one of our platforms - SaxoInvestor, SaxoTraderGO or SaxoTraderPRO - and search for the ticker ‘MA’. If you don’t have an account, you can create one by clicking here.
In order to check the current price of Mastercard shares, log in to your account and search for Mastercard. Then, select trade ticket, click on the ‘I’ icon and then navigate to ‘Trading Rates’ to see transaction costs. New customers of Saxo can click here to open an account now.
On our platforms we offer plenty of different financial information to help you decide if Mastercard is the right investment for you. You will find stock analysis, financial reports, and current and historical price charts on your account. You can open an account here.
Mastercard pays a quarterly dividend to investors. You can find full history and yield data by logging onto your account and searching for Mastercard. If you are not yet registered with Saxo, you can do so here.
You can check how Mastercard shares have performed in the past by logging in to your trading platform account to see price charts and historical financial data. If you don’t have an account with Saxo, you can open one by clicking here.
