World famous

MasterCard Inc., based in Purchase, N.Y., was founded in 1966 as the Interbank Card Association.  It is a leading international payments solutions company that offers a range of innovative credit, deposit access, electronic cash, business-to-business and related payment programs.  It was renamed Master Charge three years later and was purchased by the California Bank Association.  A decade after that, it changed its name again, from Master Charge to MasterCard.

MasterCard, through its principal operating subsidiary, MasterCard International Incorporated, manages a family of widely recognized and accepted payment cards—including MasterCard, Maestro and Cirrus—and serves financial institutions, consumers and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories.  The company’s award-winning Priceless advertising campaign was seen in more than 100 countries, in 50 different languages, by October 2006, giving the MasterCard brand a truly global reach and scope.  A historic turning point for the organization came in 2006, when it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and pledged its commitment to an open governance structure, a seamless organization and a new name, MasterCard Worldwide.  In 2008, for the second year in a row, MasterCard ranked third in the financial data services category of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies in America list.

Setbacks don’t stop successful IPO

On May 25, 2006, MasterCard went public and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker, MA.  “Listing on the NYSE marks a major milestone for MasterCard and reinforces our commitment to continued growth and building value for our customers and stockholders,†Robert Selander, the company’s president and CEO, told the Associated Press.  The market had expected the issue to open in the $40 to $43 range, but MasterCard was at $39 after a series of setbacks delayed the process.  Since the firm went public, the stock has zoomed to more than $235 per share as of August 2008, making MasterCard one of the most successful IPOs of 2006.

Recognitions and card wars

In July 2008, MasterCard Worldwide took the overall winner slot in the 2008 HP NonStop Availability Awards which recognize firms that use best practices.  The company also won the top communication award—“The Silver Anvilâ€â€”from the Public Relations Society of America in June 2008.  MasterCard’s “Project Math,†corporate-giving program seeks to support math students and teachers, and underwrites local educational collaborations and donates new technology.  In June 2008, MasterCard International announced that it would be paying American Express $1.8 billion in a settlement stemming from a 2004 lawsuit contending that MasterCard—along with competitor Visa—had barred some financial companies from distributing cards through American Express.  In the third quarter of 2008, MasterCard made its first $150-million payment to American Express—a practice to continue for 12 quarters.  Meanwhile, Visa, in its settlement, is to pay American Express $880 million annually from 2008 to 2010.

Most recent numbers

In 2008, MasterCard brought in $4.99 billion in revenue, an increase from $4.07 billion in 2007.  Net income dived, however, with losses of $254 million in 2008 from its $1.09-billion profit in 2007.  It was in the second half of 2008 when the future looked a little muddled.  While revenue for the second quarter of 2008 rose to $1.25 billion from $996.96 million in the second quarter 2007, the firm sustained a net loss of $746.65 million for the quarter compared with a net income of $252.29 million in the second quarter of the previous year.  The reason for the loss was largely due to the $1.65-billion pretax charge related to the settlement with American Express that came to approximately $1 billion on an after-tax basis.  In the second quarter of 2009, however, net income rose 26.4 percent to $349 million and a net revenue growth of 2.7 percent to $1.3 billion.