⚡What does Mastercard do, in 30 seconds?
Mastercard runs a payment network that links cardholders, stores and their banks, but it does not issue cards or lend money 1. It also sells extra services, such as fraud tools, data insights and bank-to-bank payments 26. Its revenue was $32.8bn ✓ in FY2025, and 41% ✓ of it came from those services.
📱What does Mastercard sell?
Mastercard has two lines of business: the payment network and the services built around it. It counts its revenue after the rebates and incentives it gives to customers such as card issuers and acquirers 2.
Payment network
Mastercard's network approves, clears and settles card payments in more than 150 currencies and more than 220 countries and territories 1. It earns fees based on the dollars spent on Mastercard cards, plus fees for switching and other network services 2. This line brought in $19.5bn ✓ in FY2025. That was after $20,522 million of rebates and incentives were taken off in 2025 4.
👥 Card-issuing banks, the merchant's banks (called acquirers) and other customers pay the fees 2 1. In 2025, debit and prepaid cards carried 50% of the dollars spent on Mastercard cards, consumer credit cards 37% and business cards 13% 5.
Value-added services and solutions
Security and fraud tools, loyalty services, business insights, digital and authentication services, payment processing and gateways, and bank-to-bank payments, bill pay and open finance 26. It charges fixed or per-transaction fees for them 2. This line brought in $13.3bn ✓ in FY2025. Its net revenue grew 23% in 2025, or 21% in constant currency, with 3 points from companies it bought 4.
👥 Customers can buy these services together with Mastercard's network services or on their own 2. Mastercard Move, for sending money at home and abroad, serves consumers, businesses and governments 7.
How the mix has shifted
Where the customers are
Most of Mastercard's revenue comes from outside its Americas region. International Markets brought in 57% ✓ of revenue in FY2025, or $18.7bn ✓. The Americas added 43% ✓, or $14.0bn ✓. About 70% of its roughly 39,800 staff worked outside the U.S. at the end of 2025 28.
💸How does Mastercard make money?
Follow the money from left to rightfrom top to bottom: what customers pay for, what it costs to make, and what is left as profit.
Mastercard's revenue was $32.8bn ✓ in FY2025. That figure is counted after the rebates and incentives it gives customers under deals tied to volume or other targets 2. The payment network brought in $19.5bn ✓ and the services $13.3bn ✓.
Mastercard reports no cost of sales, so its gross profit is the same as its revenue: $32.8bn ✓. Its costs come straight out of revenue. Selling and admin costs took $11.3bn ✓, and other operating costs took $2.6bn ✓. That left operating profit, the profit from the main business, of $18.9bn ✓. Interest and other items came to -$0.3bn ✓, and tax took $3.6bn ✓. Net income was $15.0bn ✓.
Out of every $100 of revenue, selling and admin took $34 ✓ and other operating costs $8 ✓. Tax took $11 ✓ and other items $1 ✓. Mastercard kept $46 ✓ as profit.
Out of every $100 customers paid in FY2025…
⏱️ Mastercard by the clock
Spread the FY2025 totals evenly over its 365 days and you get this. Source: Mastercard Inc 10-K [8].
📈How is Mastercard doing?
Mastercard has grown fast for a decade. From FY2015 to FY2025, revenue grew 13.0% ✓ a year on average. It rose in 9 ✓ of those 10 ✓ years. The one fall came in FY2020, at -9.4% ✓, and FY2021 bounced back with growth of 23.4% ✓. Operating margin rose from 52.5% ✓ in FY2015 to 57.6% ✓ in FY2025.
The four quarters to 30 June 2026 kept up the pace. Revenue reached $35.1bn ✓, up 16.0% ✓ on the four quarters before, and operating margin was 58.3% ✓. Free cash flow was $16.7bn ✓, against $17.2bn ✓ in FY2025. In the July to September 2026 quarter, net revenue was $9.8 billion, up 14% on a year earlier, and net income was $4.6 billion, up 18% 17. Operating margin in that quarter was 59.8%, up from 58.8% a year earlier 17.
📝 The report card
Mastercard earns top marks for profit and cash, a good mark for growth, a middling mark for steadiness and a low mark for its balance sheet. Every company is graded on the same fixed scale, so an A means the same thing on every page. The strip shows where Mastercard (orange) and its 3 peers land; further right is better.
Growth
Mastercard's revenue grew 13.8% ✓ a year over its last three fiscal years, which earns a B ✓. That ranks number 1 ✓ of the four companies compared, well above the 6.4% ✓ peer median. Visa grew 10.9% ✓ a year, also a B ✓.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
Growing sales is the engine of a business. Mature giants rarely grow fast, so 5% a year already earns a C.
Profitability
Over the last three years combined, Mastercard kept 56.3% ✓ of revenue as operating profit, far above the 30% needed for an A ✓. Only Visa kept more, at 63.2% ✓. PayPal kept 17.3% ✓, which earns a C ✓.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
Operating margin is the share of each sales dollar left after running the business. Software and platforms often clear 30%; hardware makers usually sit below 10%.
Cash generation
Over the last three years combined, Mastercard turned 50.1% ✓ of revenue into free cash flow, an easy A ✓. Visa did a little better, at 55.2% ✓. The peer median was 21.6% ✓.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
Free cash flow is the cash left after paying for factories, data centres and equipment. It funds dividends, buybacks and new bets.
Balance sheet
Mastercard's borrowings are larger than its cash and investments. Its cash and investments minus its borrowings (leases and stakes in other companies not counted) came to -25.7% ✓ of a year's revenue at the end of FY2025, which earns a D ✓. Visa also gets a D ✓. Mastercard's operating profit still covered its interest bill 26.2x ✓ in FY2025.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
More cash than debt gives a company room to ride out bad years. Some debt is normal; a lot of it makes a company fragile.
Steadiness
Mastercard's yearly growth swings by 8.8% ✓, measured as a standard deviation, which earns a C ✓. It ranks 4 ✓ of the four, which makes it the least steady. A change of -9.4% ✓ in FY2020 and the jump of 23.4% ✓ in FY2021 add to the swing. Fiserv, at 2.3% ✓, earns an A ✓.
Why this measure? (lower is better)
Steady growers are easier to plan around. Big swings mean sales depend on product cycles, the economy or one-off events.
🧑🏫 How the grades work
- Same scale for everyone. Each measure has fixed cut-offs (shown under each strip). Clear the A line and you get an A, whatever your peers do.
- Three years together. Profitability and cash generation add up the last three fiscal years before dividing, so one unusual year counts for less than it would on its own (a year much bigger than the others still weighs most).
- Peers for context. The rank shows how Mastercard compares with the group. Companies within 0.1 percentage point share a rank.
- Same source. Every company's figures come from its own latest annual report (10-K), so fiscal years end in different months.
- Judgement, openly stated. The cut-offs are QuantVantage.ai's view of what good looks like for a large, established company. They are not a forecast or a recommendation.
11 years at a glance
Where the cash goes
Mastercard hands most of its free cash flow back to shareholders. From FY2015 to FY2025 it spent $90.6bn ✓ on buybacks and dividends, against $97.1bn ✓ of free cash flow. In FY2025 it spent $11.7bn ✓ on buybacks and $2.8bn ✓ on dividends. Together, that was 84% ✓ of the year's free cash flow.
🧮Ratios 101: what are Mastercard's key financial ratios?
Ratios shrink Mastercard's big numbers into easy comparisons, and they show a business that keeps a lot of each dollar but runs with more debt than equity. A ratio divides one number by another so companies of any size can be compared. Each card shows the formula with Mastercard's real FY2025 numbers, the peer median and the trend.
💰 Profitability: how much of each sale is kept?
Operating margin
What is left after also paying for research, marketing and running the company.
👉 Mastercard's 57.6% ✓ is more than twice the 27.5% ✓ peer median, and up from 52.5% ✓ in FY2015.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 20% is strong for a large company.
Net margin
The bottom line: profit after interest and taxes, per dollar of sales.
👉 Mastercard keeps 45.6% ✓ of revenue as final profit, up from 39.4% ✓ in FY2015 and far above the 16.4% ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 15% is strong; one-off tax items can move it in a single year.
Return on equity (ROE)
Profit earned for each dollar that shareholders have left in the company.
👉 ROE of 193.5% ✓ looks huge because shareholders' equity was just $7.7bn ✓, against $15.0bn ✓ of profit. The peer median is 25.8% ✓.
📏 Rule of thumb: Around 15% or more is good, but buybacks shrink equity and can make ROE look huge.
⚙️ Efficiency: how hard do the assets work?
Return on assets (ROA)
Profit earned from everything the company owns, however it was paid for.
👉 ROA of 27.6% ✓, up from 23.4% ✓ in FY2015 and well above the 6.5% ✓ peer median, is a cleaner sign of strength than ROE.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 10% is strong; banks and factories usually earn less.
Asset turnover
Dollars of sales squeezed out of each dollar of assets.
👉 Mastercard's revenue is 0.6x ✓ the value of everything it owns, the same as 0.6x ✓ in FY2015 and above the 0.4x ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Retailers often top 2x; asset-heavy businesses can sit below 0.5x.
🛟 Safety: could it survive a bad year?
Current ratio
Can short-term assets (cash, money owed by customers, stock) pay the bills due within a year?
👉 At 1.0x ✓, Mastercard's $23.6bn ✓ of current assets about match its $22.8bn ✓ of bills due within a year. In FY2015 the ratio was 1.8x ✓.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 1.0x is the classic comfort line, but cash-rich giants can run below it on purpose.
Debt to equity
How much the company has borrowed for each dollar shareholders have in it.
👉 Debt is 2.5x ✓ shareholders' equity, up from 0.5x ✓ in FY2015 and well above the 0.7x ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Below 1.0x is conservative. Like ROE, it can rise when buybacks shrink equity, even if debt has not changed.
Interest cover
How many times over operating profit could pay the year's interest bill.
👉 Operating profit covers interest 26.2x ✓, down from 83.2x ✓ in FY2015 but above the 13.8x ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 5x is comfortable; below 2x is a warning sign.
💵 Cash and owners: where does the money end up?
Cash conversion
Does reported profit turn into real cash? Free cash flow is operating cash minus capital spending.
👉 Mastercard turns profit into cash at 1.1x ✓, level with the 1.1x ✓ peer median and up from 1.0x ✓ in FY2015.
📏 Rule of thumb: Near or above 1.0x means profits are backed by cash.
Stock pay
Pay given to staff in shares instead of cash. It is a real cost to owners because it adds shares.
👉 Stock pay is 1.8% ✓ of revenue, below the 2.2% ✓ peer median but up from 1.3% ✓ in FY2015.
📏 Rule of thumb: Under 5% of sales is modest for a tech company.
Shareholder payout
How much of the year's profit was handed back to owners.
👉 Mastercard paid out 96.8% ✓ of FY2025 profit as dividends and buybacks, below the 118.1% ✓ peer median and 111.5% ✓ in FY2015.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 100% means it returned more than it earned, using cash savings or debt.
Ratios use fiscal-year-end balance sheet values. Inputs are shown rounded, so dividing them can differ from the result in the last digit. A peer median leaves out peers that do not report the inputs, or where the ratio means nothing (for example, negative shareholders' equity). Rules of thumb are general guides from QuantVantage.ai, not hard limits. No share-price ratios (like price-to-earnings) are shown on this page.
🥊Who are Mastercard's competitors?
Mastercard competes with other card networks and with digital wallets 14 1314. It also competes with Fiserv's Accel, STAR and MoneyPass debit networks for U.S. debit payments 1514. Visa runs a global card network that banks issue cards on, just as Mastercard does 12.
| Company | Where they compete | Revenue | Growth/yr (3y) | Op. margin | FCF margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mastercard (MA, FY2025) | Card payment network and the services built on it | $32.8bn | 13.8% | 57.6% | 52.3% |
| Visa (V, FY2025) | Global card networks for bank-issued cards; Visa cards carried more volume in calendar 2024, per Visa's 10-K 12 | $40.0bn | 10.9% | 60.0% | 53.9% |
| PayPal (PYPL, FY2025) | Online checkout: PayPal's wallet runs card-funded payments over card networks, and Mastercard counts wallets as rivals 1314 | $33.2bn | 6.4% | 18.3% | 16.8% |
| Fiserv (FISV, FY2025) | Accel, STAR and MoneyPass debit networks compete for U.S. debit payments; Fiserv is also a Mastercard processor 1514 | $21.2bn | 6.1% | 27.5% | 20.3% |
American Express runs its own card network and also issues cards and signs up merchants 3114. Capital One issues Mastercard cards but has owned the Discover network since May 2025 18. Government-backed real-time payment systems, such as Brazil's PIX and India's UPI, are increasingly seen as alternatives to card networks 14.
🧭Mastercard SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
💪 Strengths
- Mastercard's customers had issued 3.8 billion Mastercard and Maestro cards by 30 September 2026 17.
- Mastercard switches more than 70% of all Mastercard and Maestro card payments, including nearly all cross-border ones 1.
- Over the last three years combined, Mastercard turned 50.1% ✓ of revenue into free cash flow, an A ✓ on our report card.
- Value-added services and solutions net revenue grew 23% in 2025, or 21% in constant currency 4.
🩹 Weaknesses
- Rebates and incentives to customers cut payment network revenue by $20,522 million in 2025, up 16% from 2024 4.
- Banks can issue cards on rival networks, and Mastercard competes portfolio by portfolio under intense pressure on its fees 14.
- Mastercard paid $647 million in cash for legal settlements in 2025, after $496 million in 2024 and $929 million in 2023 21.
- Borrowings exceed cash and investments: net cash was -$8.4bn ✓ at the end of FY2025.
🚀 Opportunities
- In 2025 Mastercard launched Agent Pay, a system for payments made by AI agents, and turned it on for all U.S. cardholders 7.
- On 3 August 2026, Mastercard bought BVNK, a stablecoin infrastructure company, for $1.4 billion in cash 22.
- About 40% of all Mastercard transactions in 2025 used a secure token instead of the card number 7.
- By the end of 2025, Mastercard's virtual cards were built into more than 10 business and travel expense platforms, more than double the 2024 number 7.
⚠️ Threats
- Government-backed real-time systems such as PIX, FedNow and UPI are increasingly seen as alternatives to card networks 14.
- Digital wallets, buy-now-pay-later firms and other fintechs bring growing competition, and stablecoins could both help and compete with Mastercard 14.
- At 30 September 2026, Block and Intuit, two U.S. merchants still in court with Mastercard, sought more than $5 billion in combined damages 23.
- Some places cap interchange fees, including U.S. debit rules and EU caps on consumer credit and debit interchange 20.
🏰Does Mastercard have a moat?
Why 4?
Mastercard's Priceless theme has run for nearly 30 years and began as an advertising campaign in more than 120 countries 16. Its customers had issued 3.8 billion Mastercard and Maestro cards by 30 September 2026 17. But Mastercard still faces strong pressure on its fees and offers incentives to win banks' business 14.
Why 3?
Banks can issue cards on rival networks, and Mastercard competes for them portfolio by portfolio 14. Rebates and incentives rose 16% in 2025 because of higher volumes and new and renewed deals 4. Mastercard says its services help it win new and renewed deals 6. Capital One issues Mastercard cards but now owns a rival network that also competes to sign card issuers 18.
Why 4?
Cardholders can pay at hundreds of millions of places and digital access points worldwide 1. Customers had issued 3.8 billion Mastercard and Maestro cards by 30 September 2026 17. The network handles payments in more than 150 currencies 1, and Mastercard switches nearly all cross-border Mastercard and Maestro payments 1. But Visa, American Express and others run rival networks, and some have more share in certain countries 14.
Why 4?
In 2025, $10.6 trillion was spent on Mastercard cards, and switched transactions rose 10% to 175.5 billion 5. Operating margin was 59.8% in the third quarter of 2026, up from 58.8% a year earlier 17. Mastercard also guarantees settlement of many transactions between banks, which it says protects the integrity of its network 1.
Why 3?
Mastercard owns its main trademarks and patents on payment, contactless, AI and blockchain technology, which expire at various times 19. The EU names it a systemically important payment system, and the Bank of England recognises it too 20. But some places cap interchange fees 20, and some governments require domestic payments to be switched in the country 20. Government-backed real-time systems are increasingly seen as alternatives 14.
A moat is what keeps rivals from taking a company's customers and profits. Scores are QuantVantage.ai's judgement (5 = strongest), set with the same rubric on every explainer (orange is Mastercard; grey dots are peers).
🔭What should you watch next?
New U.K. merchant claims
In October 2026, two proposed U.K. collective actions were served on Mastercard and Visa, seeking about 1.5 billion and about 0.4 billion pounds from Mastercard 32.
Credit card fee appeal
In September 2026, a U.S. court ruled that the 2018 class settlement blocks damages claims in a new merchant suit over credit card fees, and the plaintiffs appealed 23.
Australian debit case
Australia's competition regulator brought a case over Mastercard's debit deals with merchants, and the hearing on liability ended in June 2026 32.
📚Learn the words
❓Frequently asked questions about Mastercard
How does Mastercard make money?
Mastercard makes money mainly from fees on its payment network, based on the dollars spent on its cards and on switching payments 2. In FY2025 the network brought in $19.5bn ✓ and its other services $13.3bn ✓.
Does Mastercard issue credit cards or lend money?
No, banks issue the cards and lend the money, while Mastercard runs the network that links them 1. Mastercard does not set the interest rates or fees that banks charge cardholders 1.
Does Mastercard get the fee a store pays when I use my card?
Not that part. Interchange fees are generally paid by the store's bank to the card-issuing bank, not to Mastercard 124. The rate a store pays is set by its own bank 1.
How many Mastercard cards are there?
Customers had issued 3.8 billion Mastercard and Maestro cards by 30 September 2026 17. At the end of 2025, Mastercard-branded cards included 2,134 million debit and prepaid, 1,083 million consumer credit and 174 million business cards 5.
Who are Mastercard's biggest competitors?
Mastercard's rivals include other card networks such as Visa, American Express, JCB, China UnionPay and Discover 14. It also counts digital wallets, such as PayPal's, among its competitors 1314.
Who is Mastercard's CEO?
Michael Miebach has been CEO and president since January 2021 25. Before that he was president in 2020 and chief product officer from 2016 to 2020 25.
Can a store charge me extra for paying with a Mastercard credit card?
In the U.S. and Canada, sometimes. Mastercard's rules let merchants there add a surcharge for credit card payments, within limits 24.
🎮Play: higher or lower, then test yourself
Figures come from each company's latest annual report (10-K); fiscal years end in different months. Sources: [8] [9] [10] [11].
🧠 Test yourself
5 quick questions. Score: 0 / 5
1. Who gives you a Mastercard card and lends you the money?
2. About how much of Mastercard's FY2025 revenue came from its value-added services?
3. Which Formula 1 team did Mastercard say it would become the naming partner of from 2026?
4. What is Maestro?
5. About what share of Mastercard transactions used a secure token instead of the card number in 2025?
🔎Sources and method
Every figure comes from a source listed here or is calculated from those sources (marked ✓). Company financials are taken from SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q) as tagged in XBRL. Peer grades rank the same measures across the company and its peers. This page contains no share-price data and no valuation.
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 Payment Network: four-party model, interchange, switching, reach, settlement guarantee (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 Revenue Sources and Note 1 revenue recognition: two revenue categories, rebates and incentives (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard (MA) Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, filed 2026-02-11 — revenue by product, segment and geography (accessed 2026-10-28)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 7 MD&A Revenue: 2025 growth by category and rebates and incentives amount (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 Our Performance: 2025 volume, transactions and cards by program (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 strategic priorities and Our Services and Other Solutions (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 Payment Products and Applications and Key 2025 Developments (commercial, Move, tokens, agentic, stablecoins) (accessed 2026-10-30)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Mastercard (MA) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: VISA INC. (V) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: FISERV INC (FISV) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- Visa Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 competition: network comparison table for calendar 2024 and types of competitors (accessed 2026-10-30)
- PayPal Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 Competition; network rules risk factor; transaction expense and funding mix (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 Competition: rival networks, pricing pressure, account-based and government systems, wallets (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Fiserv Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 Digital Payments (Accel, STAR, MoneyPass debit networks); regulation; network rules (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 Brand: Priceless platform and 2025 developments (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard third quarter 2026 earnings release (Form 8-K exhibit 99.1), October 29, 2026 — Q3 2026 results, business drivers and cards issued (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Capital One Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 overview and Discover acquisition; risk factors on network competition (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 Intellectual Property and competitive advantages (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 Government Regulation: payments oversight, interchange rules, protective government actions (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Note 19 Legal and Regulatory Proceedings: U.S. merchant litigation history and settlement cash (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 — Note 2 Acquisitions: BVNK (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 — Legal and Regulatory Proceedings: U.S. merchant interchange litigation (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1A Risk Factors: interchange and surcharging rules (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard 2026 proxy statement (Form DEF 14A) — Director nominee biography: Michael Miebach roles and dates (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Cover (fiscal year end) and Item 1 Additional Information: incorporation, operating subsidiary (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 2 Properties: headquarters and operations center (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 Our People: employee count and share outside the U.S. (accessed 2026-10-30)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Mastercard (MA) — quarterly 10-Q/10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Mastercard (MA) — balance sheet at 2026-06-30 (accessed 2026-10-28)
- American Express Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 integrated payments platform and network competition (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Mastercard Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 — Legal and Regulatory Proceedings: U.K., Europe and Australia (accessed 2026-10-30)