Visa, Mastercard Win Preliminary Approval for $38 Billion Merchant Fee Settlement
Summary
A U.S. judge has granted preliminary approval for a $38 billion settlement involving Visa and Mastercard in a long-running antitrust lawsuit over merchant swipe fees. As part of the deal, Visa and Mastercard will cut interchange fees by 0.1 percentage point for five years and cap consumer card fees at 1.25% for eight years. This development resolves a significant legal overhang that dates back to 2005, following recent efforts by Visa to manage litigation-related liabilities through Class B stock exchange offers. The mandated fee reductions and substantial settlement amount will directly impact the companies' revenue streams. The settlement still requires final court approval.
At the time of this announcement, V was trading at $322.62 on NYSE in the Finance sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $608.5B. The 52-week trading range was $293.89 to $375.51. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 9 out of 10. Source: dpa-AFX.