Visa Lays Off 7% of Workforce, Charging AI With Some Tasks

Visa is looking to invest more in its technology and products. How? By eliminating about 2,600 employees, many of whom work in technology and product operations. 

That may seem counterproductive, but it’s par for the course in the finance and technology worlds. More companies, including Meta and Amazon, have been saying goodbye to colleagues as they welcome bots to automate jobs such as software engineering while cutting costs. But for Visa, which runs the world’s largest payment network, the move comes at a crucial time. After years of competing with its main rival Mastercard, it’s now having to fend off competition from digital rivals like PayPal, Block and Stripe as consumers change the way they shop. 

It also comes at a time when consumers are showing resilience amid still-high inflation and surging gas prices: Payments volume, which measures consumer spending, rose 10% in the company’s fiscal third quarter, Visa reported Tuesday. 

No Longer Just a Network 

AI wasn’t the sole reason for the layoffs, CNBC reported, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The company also wants to put more resources toward its growth areas, including its emphasis on affluent customers, cross-border activity, business payments and stablecoins. It’s trying to capture the infrastructure behind other forms of payment, including agentic commerce powered by AI agents: 

• “Experts highlight that the shift toward autonomous, AI-driven agentic commerce will present both new opportunities and multi-rail challenges for traditional card networks,” Third Bridge analyst Jonathan King said. Visa, however, is in a position to capture “a massive overall surge in transaction velocity across digital ecosystems,” thanks to its extensive fraud governance, tokenization infrastructure and asset-light stablecoin partnerships, he added. 
• Plus, as stablecoins have passed over into the mainstream, Visa has a leg up against rivals due to its integrations with fast-moving fintechs and protocol layers, King said. 

Earnings Beat: The company posted adjusted earnings of $3.32 per share and revenue of $11.6 billion, beating the $3.23 per share and $11.4 billion analysts had been expecting. That’s a 14% increase in revenue over the past year. It’s also taking a $563 million charge related to the job cuts.