Mastercard profit exceeds expectations, set to lay off 4% globally

By Utkarsh Shetti

Jan 29 (Reuters) - ⁠Mastercard beat Wall ⁠Street ‍expectations for fourth-quarter profit on resilient spending, and said it will lay off about 4% of its global workforce to ‍refocus investments in different areas.

The firm's executives told analysts that the ​restructuring would result in a charge of about $200 million in the current quarter.

"Recently, we ​completed a strategic review of our business. This will result in reductions in some areas and roles, but lead to further investment and increased focus in others," CEO ​Michael Miebach said.

The job cuts could affect over 1,400 employees, based on total workforce of about 35,300 as of December 2024, according to ​the company's latest annual filing.

Shares of Mastercard were up over 1.7% in early trading.

CONSUMER SPENDING RESILIENT

Spending ‌has largely held up despite concerns of economic uncertainty fueled by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies, sticky inflation and ​a sluggish labor market.

Mastercard's gross dollar volume, ⁠the value of all transactions processed on its platform, rose 7% in the quarter, boosted by resilient spending on ‌travel, leisure and everyday essentials.

Households continue to prioritize necessities, while high earners show little sign of pulling back on discretionary purchases.

Mastercard also reported a 14% jump ‌in cross-border volumes, a metric that tracks spending on cards outside the country they were ‌issued in.

The company is the first of Wall Street's biggest payment processors to post earnings this quarter, with rival Visa set to report later in the day, and ‍American Express results due early on Friday.

Credit card balances edged up in the latest quarter for U.S. banks, ⁠signaling sustained borrowing demand despite high interest rates.

Mastercard reported an adjusted profit of $4.76 per share, surpassing analysts' average expectations of $4.25, and revenue of $8.81 billion, also above estimates of $8.78 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

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