MasterCard Plans Public Stock Offering

MasterCard Inc. today said it expects to become a publicly traded company. The card network, whose ownership comprises 1,400 financial institutions worldwide, said it will appoint a new board of directors and create new corporate governance.

MasterCard's network of bank issuers and financial institutions is "expected to retain a 41 percent equity interest in MasterCard Incorporated," the card network said in a statement. "MasterCard also intends to issue shares of voting Class A common stock to public investors through an initial public offering. Upon successful completion of the offering, these public investors will hold shares representing an expected 49 percent of the company's equity and 83 percent of its voting rights."

While MasterCard did not disclose a timeframe for the transition, it said, "Implementation of the new corporate governance and ownership structure is subject to various contingencies, including shareholder approval and the requisite regulatory filings." The card purveyor said it could not comment further.

MasterCard boasts 29.1 percent of all consumer card spending in the United States--the second-largest volume after Visa, which holds 54.8 percent market share, according to the August issue of The Nilson Report, a credit card industry newsletter. On the commercial card side, however, MasterCard claims 21.4 percent market share, after leader American Express, which has 39.8 percent, and Visa--a close second--with 36.4 percent of commercial card spending volume. Although Amex long has been considered the most dominant player in the corporate T&E space by far, Visa's close second comes from a strong share of corporate purchasing cards, small business cards and government market cards.