Visa became a publicly traded company through its initial public offering in 2008.
Visa’s IPO took place in March 2008 and raised approximately $17.9 billion, making it the largest U.S. IPO at that time. The company offered shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker V. Its public listing helped establish Visa as one of the most valuable companies in global payments and later placed it among the world’s largest companies by market capitalization.
Visa operates a payments network rather than issuing most cards or lending directly to cardholders. Banks and other financial institutions issue Visa-branded cards, while Visa facilitates authorization, clearing, and settlement between participants. This distinction is a common source of confusion: Visa and Mastercard are primarily network companies, whereas card-issuing banks manage customer accounts and credit relationships.