23 who laughed at the recession

CEO since 2007: Joseph Saunders

In times of recession, people tend to put away their credit cards and rely more on cash. Which is just fine with Visa.

Debit cards tend to be used for everyday purchases like food and gasoline that are not easily postponed, even in a recession. Last year more than 70% of all Visa transactions were debit purchases.

The result: a 10% jump in revenue, to $6.9 billion and a 193% increase in profit, to $2.4 billion.

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