✦ Services as a Third of the CompanyNarrow moat
Visa (V) — the future bets
The bet in one sentence: swap some of the moat for revenue nobody is trying to legislate away.
Value-added services reached $3.8 billion in the June 2026 quarter against $2.8 billion a year earlier1, approaching a third of net revenue in that period.
If it keeps compounding at anything close to that rate it stops being an adjunct and becomes the second business — one that is not regulated as interchange, not litigated by merchants, not vulnerable to a routing mandate, and priced on what it saves the customer rather than on a share of what the customer sells.
The trade is a lower blended margin, a larger headcount, and a growing share of revenue that lacks the structural protection the network enjoys. That is the bet in one sentence: swap some of the moat for revenue nobody is trying to legislate away.
Given that the regulatory ratchet has turned one way for forty years — capping interchange in Europe, mandating routing choice in the United States, and now building public rails in most large emerging markets — it is difficult to argue that is the wrong trade. It is only worth noticing that the market is currently paying one multiple for two businesses with very different risk.
36% growth against a mid-teens company. If it holds, the mix shifts toward revenue that no regulator is currently trying to cap.
If it keeps compounding at 36% it becomes the second business, priced on what it saves customers rather than on a share of what they sell. The cost is a lower blended margin and a narrower moat around growing revenue.
Source: Visa Form 10-Q, quarter ended June 30, 2026 ↗- ReportedValue-added services reached $3.8 billion in the June 2026 quarter against $2.8 billion a year earlierVisa Inc. Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 (CIK 1403161) — net revenue of $11,633 million against $10,172 million, comprising service revenue $4,922 million, data processing revenue $6,042 million, international transaction revenue $3,853 million and other revenue $1,496 million, less client incentives of $4,680 million against $3,972 million; operating income of $6,877 million against $6,177 million and net income of $5,628 million against $5,272 million; nine-month net revenue of $33,764 million against $29,276 million, operating income of $20,848 million against $17,846 million, total operating expenses of $12,916 million against $11,430 million and a litigation provision of $1,290 million against $1,659 million; interest expense of $194 million in the quarter against $39 million; U.S. net revenue of $4,410 million and international net revenue of $7,223 million; revenue from value-added services of $3.8 billion in the quarter against $2.8 billion a year earlier — Q3 FY2026 and the nine months to 30 June 2026 · publ. 29 July 2026 · source ↗