Visa to lay off around 1,400 employees and contractors, WSJ reports

(Reuters) -Visa is planning to lay off about 1,400 employees and contractors by the end of the year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, as the card giant looks to streamline its international business.

About 1,000 of the cuts are expected to eliminate technology positions, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The report added that most of the other layoffs would focus on Visa’s merchant sales and global digital partnership roles.

Some of the layoffs occurred last week, according to the report. Visa plans to keep its workers in the global digital partnership teams employed through the end of the year, it added.

A Visa spokesperson told Reuters the company continuously evolves its operational model to support growth, “which can lead to the elimination of some roles.”

The company expects to grow the number of employees at Visa for the foreseeable future, the spokesperson said.

Visa employed 28,800 employees at the end of fiscal year 2023.

The world’s largest payments processor is set to report its fourth-quarter earnings after the market closes.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)