Visa conducted the largest U.S. initial public offering at the time in 2008.
Visa priced its IPO in March 2008 at $44 per share and raised about $17.9 billion, making it the largest U.S. IPO then recorded. The offering converted Visa from an association owned by member financial institutions into a publicly traded corporation.
Visa operates a global electronic-payments network, connecting consumers, merchants, banks, and other financial institutions. It generally does not issue cards, lend money, or set the interest rate on a cardholder’s balance; those activities are usually handled by banks and other partners.
The IPO is sometimes confused with the largest global offerings or with Mastercard’s later public-market history. Visa’s record referred specifically to the U.S. IPO market at that time. Its market capitalization reflects investor expectations about payment volume, network fees, international growth, and digital commerce.