Visa Inc. began trading this morning on the New York Stock Exchange - stock symbol V - in early trading the shares traded up over 30 percent from the $44 offering price. Visa has added a new Investor Relations section to its corporate web site. Visa Inc.'s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Joseph W. Saunders, made a statement following the launch of trading: "This is an exciting and historic day for Visa. It marks the culmination of a more than two-year process that led to our global reorganization and our becoming a public company."   » Continue Reading

Visa Inc. announced today that it has priced the initial public offering of 406,000,000 shares of Class A common stock at $44 per share. Visa's shares will begin trading on March 19, 2008, on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "V". Visa expects net proceeds from the offering, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses, to be approximately $17.3 billion.   » Continue Reading

Adam Levitin, Associate Professor of Law at Georgetown University, posts on the Credit Slips blog about this week's scheduled Visa Inc. initial public offering.   » Continue Reading

Visa Inc. has filed with the SEC Amendment No. 5 to its Form S-1 Registration Statement along with employment agreements for several senior executives.

In an article titled 'Visa IPO success hinges on share price', Sam Zuckerman writes for the San Francisco Chronicle. He writes: 'Visa Inc.'s upcoming initial public offering is shaping up to be this year's hottest ticket on Wall Street. But should individual investors try to crash the party?'

Robin Sidel writes for the Wall St. Journal about Visa's planned initial public offering - scheduled for the week of March 17. Randall Smith writes for that Wall St. Journal about the fees ($350 million) that Wall St. firms may earn from the Visa IPO. Eric Dash writes about the Visa IPO for the New York Times.

Floyd Norris, chief financial correspondent of the New York Times, posts about the Visa IPO - asking how much of the Visa IPO proceeds will stay in Visa to help the company grow?

Visa Inc. has filed with the SEC Amendment No. 4 to its Form S-1 Registration Statement along with an amended Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2007. The amended S-1 indicates Visa plans to sell up to 46,600,000 shares of Class A common stock at a proposed maximum offering price of $42 per share raising $18.757 billion. Andrew Edwards writes for the Wall St. Journal that Visa's IPO could be the largest in US history.

Visa Inc. has filed with the SEC Amendment No. 3 to its Form S-1 Registration Statement along with an amended Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2007.

Visa Inc. has filed with the SEC Amendment No. 2 to its Form S-1 Registration Statement along with a Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 and Amendment No.1 to its Form 1-K for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2007.

Visa Inc. has filed a Form 10-K Annual Report with the SEC as well as the first amendment to its previously filed Form S-1 Registration Statement.   » Continue Reading

Visa Inc. has announced that "it has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to a proposed initial public offering of its class A common stock." A copy of Visa's Form S-1 Registration Statement is available on the SEC web site. The Wall St. Journal reports that the Visa IPO could be worth $10 billion.   » Continue Reading

Eric Dash reports for the New York Times on yesterday's announcement of a settlement in the antitrust litigation between American Express and Visa. Dash notes that there is still pending litigation between American Express and MasterCard as well as between Discover and both MasterCard and Visa. Jane J. Kim reports on the settlement for the Wall St. Journal.

It's official - American Express has announced that "it has reached an agreement to drop Visa as a defendant in a lawsuit alleging that MasterCard, Visa and their member banks had illegally blocked American Express from the bank-issued card business in the United States. Under terms of the settlement agreement, Visa will pay a maximum amount of $2.25 billion to American Express. Individual banks named in the lawsuit will also be dropped as defendants. These include: J.P. Morgan Chase, Capital One, U.S. Bancorp, Wells Fargo and Providian. The agreement is subject to the approval of Visa’s member banks."

Separately, Visa Inc. announced the settlement - saying: "The member institutions of Visa USA - and not Visa Inc. - bear the responsibility for funding the settlement through the application of Visa's retrospective responsibility plan. The plan includes a multi-step mechanism to fund financial obligations of Visa USA and Visa International related to certain litigation, including the American Express case. Through this mechanism, any payments made by Visa Inc. as part of this settlement ultimately will be reimbursed by Visa USA member institutions."

Following up on a report earlier today on CNBC, Jane Kim and Nathan Koppel report for the Wall St. Journal that "American Express Co. and Visa USA Inc. agreed to settle an antitrust case for $2.25 billion, according to people familiar with the situation."

Aite Group has published a new report titled "The Future of Card Networks: Gauging Battle-Readiness for a Post-Visa IPO World" that "considers how the world will look in a post-Visa IPO world, in which the four major card networks, Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover, are publicly traded companies."   » Continue Reading

Visa Inc. has announced "the completion of its restructuring, having received broad member approval for the series of transactions by which Visa Canada, Visa U.S.A. and Visa International have become subsidiaries of Visa Inc. Visa Europe will remain a membership association and will become a licensee of, and own a minority interest in, Visa Inc."   » Continue Reading

Visa Inc. has filed with the SEC Amendment No. 5 to the Visa Inc. Form S-4 Registration Statement. Visa filed its original S-4 on June 22, 2007.

Update: Visa announced today that its registration statement on Form S-4 filed in connection with its proposed restructuring was declared effective by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on September 13, 2007.   » Continue Reading

Yesterday, Visa Inc. filed with the SEC Amendment No. 4 to the Visa Inc. Form S-4 Registration Statement. Visa filed its original S-4 on June 22, 2007. Also included in yesterday's filing were a series of new exhibits including consents from newly named board members.

Visa has announced the members of Visa Inc.'s Board of Directors who will serve after the completion of the proposed restructuring. Visa also announced the appointment of Byron Pollitt, Jr. as Chief Financial Officer designate of Visa Inc.   » Continue Reading

Visa Europe has filed (as part of Visa Inc.'s SEC filings) a Form 425 filing detailing its new Articles of Association (for remaining as a separate entity from Visa Inc.), the form of its put/call option agreement with Visa Inc., and various other changes. Visa Europe has also called an "extraordinary meeting" for Sept. 21 in Brussels to obtain member approval of the proposed changes and agreements.

Yesterday, Visa Inc. filed with the SEC Amendment No. 3 to the Visa Inc. Form S-4 Registration Statement. Visa filed its original S-4 on June 22, 2007.

Last week, Visa Inc. filed with the SEC Amendment No. 2 to its Form S-4 Registration Statement. Visa filed its original S-4 on June 22, 2007.

Last week, Visa Inc. updated its SEC filings to include several exhibits to its original filing - including Visa USA's Master Agreement with JP Morgan Chase, its Amended and Restated Agreement with Bank of America, and various loss sharing agreements between Visa USA and certain of its member banks relating to pending litigation.

Visa announced today that Hans Morris has been appointed President of Visa Inc., effective September 1, 2007.   » Continue Reading

Visa USA has announced that John Philip Coghlan, President and Chief Executive Officer, has resigned. According to Visa, "Coghlan led the U.S. region of Visa since July 2005. During that time he oversaw efforts to prepare Visa USA for its restructuring, undertaking a series of initiatives to enhance Visa's financial performance and reporting. John Partridge, President of Inovant LLC, will assume the expanded responsibilities of interim President of Visa USA."

David Wighton writes for the Financial Times about how Visa Inc. is approaching its potential litigation liability associated with various law suits pending against various Visa entities. He writes that Visa "plans to set up a litigation fund to protect investors in its forthcoming initial public offering from legal claims. Under the plan, Visa’s US member banks will take on responsibility for the outstanding legal actions and will contribute billions of dollars from their flotation proceeds to an escrow account to pay claims."

Visa Inc. has filed its initial Visa Inc. S-4 Registration Statement with the SEC related to the series of transactions for the planned combination of Visa Canada, Visa International and Visa USA into a single private stock company, Visa Inc. Visa Europe will remain a membership association and will become a licensee of, and own a minority interest in, Visa Inc. A number of supporting documents and exhibits were also included.

In it's press release announcing the filing, Visa said that "once the SEC has completed its review and declared the registration statement effective, Visa will undertake a global process to secure member approval of the restructuring."

Visa has announced that Joseph (Joe) W. Saunders has been named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Visa Inc. Visa's regional boards of directors unanimously approved Saunders's appointment after an extensive six-month search. Saunders previously had been named the designated Executive Chairman of Visa Inc.'s Board of Directors, a role he assumed in February 2007.   » Continue Reading

In a story titled "Visa IPO Should Speed Innovations In Payments", Robin Sidel writes for the Wall St. Journal's Thursday editions about Visa's announcement today that it will reorganize itself into a new company, Visa Inc., and prepare for an IPO. Sidel commented that "after years of battling MasterCard at the cash register, Visa will now find itself competing for investors, acquisitions and partners, as well as new products and services."

In tomorrow's New York Times, Eric Dash and Michael J. de la Merced report on Visa's plans saying that "Visa hopes to streamline its operations, invest more nimbly in emerging markets and new payment technologies like those using cellular phones, and insulate its member banks from potentially billions of dollars in legal damages over antitrust and unfair-pricing claims brought by merchants."

[Update: On Friday, November 9, 2007, Visa Inc. filed its S-1 Registration Statement for an initial public offering.]

Visa has announced that it intends to restructure its organization in order to create a new public global corporation called Visa Inc. As a part of this restructuring, Visa Europe will remain a membership association, owned and governed by its European member banks, and become a licensee of Visa Inc. Visa says it "expects the proposed restructuring will best position the company to meet the evolving needs of its customers and will accelerate its growth by improving organizational efficiency, addressing certain legal claims that exist in some markets, and increasing access to capital."   » Continue Reading