Visa is the payments network that trades under the ticker symbol V and became a public company in 2008.
Visa's modern corporate history grew from Bank of America's BankAmericard program, launched in California in 1958. BankAmericard was later licensed to banks in other countries and eventually evolved into the Visa brand. The network connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and payment processors, but Visa generally does not issue cards or extend credit directly to cardholders.
Visa held its initial public offering in March 2008. It became one of the largest IPOs in U.S. history at that time, raising billions of dollars. The company's business model is based largely on processing payment transactions and collecting service and data-processing fees.
Visa is often confused with a bank because its logo appears on payment cards. However, banks and other financial institutions typically issue Visa-branded cards, while Visa operates the payment network. Its stock symbol “V” reflects the company's name.