10/13/2024

Visa slashes hundreds of jobs as it digests European acquisition

Layoffs are roiling San Francisco-based Visa, with the card giant eliminating an undislosed number of positions around the globe as it digests its purchase of Visa Europe and adjusts to the rapidly shifting payments landscape that sparked a proliferation of fintech startups eager to eat Visa’s lunch.

Visa issued a statement Tuesday acknowledging “a variety” of job cuts, but offered no details on the size and scope. Several Visa employees and former employees tell the San Francisco Business Times that Visa recently cut 800 to 1,500 jobs, with the company’s former headquarters campus in Foster City especially hard hit.

Visa employs 4,000 people in the Bay Area and 11,000 worldwide, according to Business Times research.

“The acquisition of Visa Europe, combined with changes in our industry, provide us with the opportunity to reassess our cost structure globally and make adjustments,” Visa said in a statement. “In undertaking this assessment, we have decided to eliminate a variety of roles globally, while also creating new roles that better align with our future growth plans.

“These changes position Visa for continued growth and allow us to better serve the needs of clients in a rapidly evolving payments environment,” according to the statement.

As of late Tuesday, Visa did not appear to file any of what’s known as WARN notices, required to be filed in advance with California regulators for significant layoffs. That’s a point not lost on one person posting anonymously at thelayoff.com who labels his post, ” What happened to the WARN Act?”

Visa told the Business Times that WARN filings will be made “as appropriate.”

The layoffs occur as Visa copes with rapidly changing technology and the need for increased security. With more secure, chip-enabled debit and credit cards proliferating, thieves are turning to online card usage to put through fraudulent charges, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

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