Visa Inc. closed its acquisition of Visa Europe, a deal that could be worth as much as €21.2 billion (US$23.3 billion) including earnouts. The combined company serves 17,000 financial institution clients and partners and 40 million merchant outlets and has 3 billion cards issued worldwide, representing an annual $6.8 trillion in global payments. At closing, Visa Inc. paid Visa Europe shareholders €12.2 billion in cash and issued 2.5 million Series B shares and 3.2 million Series C shares, worth €5.4 billion, to certain Visa Europe members. Visa Inc. will pay an additional €1.1 billion on the third anniversary of the closing, according to a U.S Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Visa Europe has the opportunity to gain additional funds, based on earnout cash payments if it meets revenue targets for the 16 quarters following the transaction's closure. Visa Inc. also appointed an additional board member, Hastings Group CEO Gary Hoffman, bringing the total number of members to 11.