The impenetrable moat around Visa (V 1.17%) and MasterCard (MA 0.21%) in the payments business may not be so impenetrable for long. In this segment from Where the Money Is, Motley Fool financial analysts Matt Koppenheffer and Patrick Morris broadcast from the Transact 2014 conference in Las Vegas, to discuss the broader payments industry, and how the lines of competition are getting blurred. While the massive payments networks of Visa and MasterCard have traditionally allowed them to maintain high margins and ward off competitors, new payments business models coming from the giants of tech like Google (GOOGL 0.10%), Amazon.com (AMZN +9.58%) and eBay (EBAY 3.03%) with its PayPal business could soon spell a changing dynamic for the big dogs in this industry.
Are Visa and MasterCard Being Threatened by Silicon Valley?
By Matt Koppenheffer and Patrick Morris – Apr 20, 2014 at 3:00PM
NASDAQ: GOOGL
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Could these tech companies soon become a threat to the dominance of Visa and MasterCard?
About the Author
Matt is the head of the Coverage Team for The Motely Fool's premium products. Previously, he's been . Matt is a heavy user of AI tools and is working on harnessing them to help Fool members. Previously, Matt was GM of Motley Fool Ascent, led The Motley Fool Deutschland, has been an investor on various Fool services, and co-hosted the podcast "Where the Money Is". He also co-authored the book The Astonishing Collapse of MF Global. Matt started his career in San Francisco as a technology-focused investment banker and also worked at a $15 billion private equity company. When he's thinking about how to make Fools smarter, happier, and richer, you can usually find Matt running trails or making a mess in the kitchen. He's a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, but is a lifelong fan of Penn State football.