VISA IPO

Do you like to loan money to people or organizations that have been sued, so they can pay for that litigation? Well, according to the blog ChrisPerruna.com that is exactly what you will be doing if you buy the forthcoming Visa IPO.

Visa is hoping to break records and raise up to $19 billion from its initial public offering. The only question is whether they can pull it off in this jittery market.

In a filing on Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the San Francisco-based credit-card company said it was planning to offer 406 million shares between $37 and $42 each. Underwriters can offer an extra 40.6 million shares if demand warrants.
- Forbes

When I first heard about this new IPO, this afternoon, the commentators on the radio were surprised that they weren't already publicly traded. The same talk show with Raubin Pierce and Megan Mosaic even jokingly mused if they could buy the Visa stock with their MasterCard (nyse: MA) or Discover.

While American Express (nyse: AXP) has been publicly traded for years, MasterCard only has been traded since 2006.

The filing showed Visa was the biggest of the credit-card companies, however, with MasterCard and American Express trailing it in transactions in 2006.

In 2006 MasterCard, its closest competitor, had 23.4 billion transactions while Visa had 44.0 billion. Based on MasterCard's current market capitalization of $26.0 billion, Visa's market cap would be $48.9 billion.

Monday's announcement comes only months after Bank of America (nyse: BAC) announced it was resurrecting the BankAmericard brand. BankAmericard, launched in 1958, was the precursor of Visa.
- Forbes

Once this IPO actually occurs Discover, will be the only major credit card that is not publicly traded. If you remember Discover's history, they like H & R Block started out as a division of Sears. Unlike Block (which was spun off), Discover was sold to Morgan Stanley, which spun the card issuer off in July 2007.

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go ahead share your thoughts with me now.

*** Image source ChrisPerruna.com

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