TIVP020: Visa (V): Is Visa still the Card to Hold? w/ Daniel Mahncke & Shawn O’Malley
The Intrinsic Value Podcast - The Investor’s Podcast Network
Intro
This chapter explores Visa's critical role in global payment processing, focusing on its reliable technology and strategic partnerships. It reveals the company's operations, revenue model, and the competitive edges that keep it at the forefront of the industry.
Daniel Mahncke and Shawn O’Malley break down Visa (ticker: V), the global payments powerhouse that acts as the invisible engine behind billions of transactions every day. Visa doesn’t issue cards, lend money, or handle customer accounts — instead, it operates the network that connects banks, merchants, and consumers in over 200 countries.
Whether you’re tapping your card for a coffee, shopping online, or sending money abroad, there’s a good chance Visa is taking a small slice behind the scenes. Visa is to the global economy what highways are to cars — an essential infrastructure layer that makes modern commerce move.
In this episode, you’ll learn how Visa evolved from a consortium of banks to a dominant public company, how it defends its massive competitive moat, where growth will come from beyond traditional card payments, whether emerging technologies like account-to-account payments pose a real threat, how to think about Visa’s valuation, plus so much more!
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IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN
00:00 - Intro
03:04 - How Visa’s business model works and how it earns money from transactions
17:49 - Why every player in the payment process needs Visa
26:54 - Visa’s origin story and how BofA’s BankAmericard changed banking forever
55:36 - Where Visa’s growth will come from in the future
47:50 - What are Visa’s Value Added Services and New Flows
57:44 - Why Visa’s Moat is so impenetrable
1:01:31 - Who are Visa’s competitors and what are the overarching risks
1:10:07 - Whether Visa is attractively valued at current levels
1:19:10 - Whether Shawn & Daniel add V to The Intrinsic Value Portfolio
*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.
BOOKS AND RESOURCES
- Get smarter about valuing businesses in just a few minutes each week through our newsletter, The Intrinsic Value Newsletter.
- Visa’s latest Annual Report.
- Book to understand Payments: The Pay Off.
- The Acquired Podcast on Visa.
- Visa Investor Day 2025 Presentation.
- Check out our previous Intrinsic Value breakdowns: Nintendo, Airbnb, AutoZone, Alphabet, Ulta, John Deere, and Madison Square Garden Sports.
- Check out the books mentioned in the podcast here.
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