What it does
Mastercard describes itself as a technology company in the global payments industry. It connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments, digital partners, businesses and other organizations by enabling electronic payments. Its global payments network authorizes, clears and settles transactions, while its capabilities also include ACH batch and real-time account-based payments. The company states that it does not issue cards, extend credit, determine interest rates or receive revenue from interest rates and other fees charged by issuers to account holders. It also offers services and solutions including security, consumer acquisition and engagement, business and market insights, digital and authentication, processing and gateway solutions.
Source: Mastercard Incorporated Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, Item 1 — sec.gov
How it makes money
The filing reports one operating segment, Payment Solutions, with FY2025 revenue of $32.8 billion. The segment table below provides the revenue detail. The company groups revenue into payment network and value-added services and solutions. Payment network revenue was $19.5 billion, or 59.4% of revenue, while value-added services and solutions revenue was $13.3 billion, or 40.6%. The company states that its services and other solutions are interdependent with its payment network, and describes its payment network as linking issuers and acquirers to facilitate transaction switching. In a typical transaction, interchange fees are collected from acquirers and paid to issuers; Mastercard administers their collection and remittance through settlement.
| Product or service | Revenue, FY2025 | Share | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payment network | $19.5 billion | 59.4% | 12.4% |
| Value-added services and solutions | $13.3 billion | 40.6% | 22.9% |
Source: Mastercard Incorporated Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, Item 1 — sec.gov
Customers and geography
Mastercard’s customers and network participants include financial institutions, merchants, businesses, governments, digital partners and other organizations. It says account-holder relationships generally belong to and are managed by its customers. The company states that its network enables transactions in more than 150 currencies and in more than 220 countries and territories. For FY2025, the Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa region generated $18.7 billion of revenue, representing 57.2% of revenue. The Americas generated $14.0 billion, representing 42.8%. Mastercard also says its network links issuers and acquirers globally and permits account holders to use its products at acceptance locations and digital access points worldwide.
| Region | Revenue, FY2025 | Share | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa | $18.7 billion | 57.2% | 18.7% |
| Americas | $14.0 billion | 42.8% | 13.5% |
Source: Mastercard Incorporated Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, Item 1 — sec.gov
Competition
The filing states that Mastercard faces competitors within and outside the global payments industry, across paper-based and electronic payments and the categories in which it provides services and solutions. It names Visa, American Express, JCB, China UnionPay and Discover as worldwide general-purpose payment-network competitors. The company says these competitors tend to offer card-based payment products, and that some have greater market share in certain jurisdictions or business models that may offer advantages in pricing, technology or regulatory-compliance burdens. Financial institutions may issue Mastercard-branded and competitor payment products, and Mastercard says it competes for business by individual portfolios or programs.
Source: Mastercard Incorporated Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, Item 1 — sec.gov
Key risks
The filing highlights risks including:
- Global regulatory and legislative activity related to the payments industry that may have a material adverse impact on its business and results.
- Preferential or protective government actions related to domestic payment services that could affect its ability to maintain or increase revenue.
- Privacy, data, AI, information-security and digital-economy regulation and enforcement that could raise costs, lead to claims and fines, and affect growth and reputation.
- Substantial and intense worldwide competition in the global payments industry.
- Information-security incidents or account-data compromise events that could disrupt the business, damage its reputation, increase costs and cause losses.
- Loss of a significant portion of business from one or more of its largest customers, which could lead to longer-term revenue decreases.
Source: Mastercard Incorporated Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, Item 1A — sec.gov
People and operations
Mastercard reported 39,800 employees for FY2025. The company states that its success is driven by the skills, experience, integrity and mindset of its people, and that it seeks to attract, develop and retain talent and high-performing leaders. Its technology connects financial institutions, financial technology companies and others, enabling interoperability through digital channels. The filing describes a distributed, peer-to-peer network architecture that performs routing and applies services to transactions in real time. It states that this architecture has 24-hour availability. The provided filing excerpts do not state seasonality or provide a facilities description.
Source: Mastercard Incorporated Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, Item 1 — sec.gov