Visa, one of the largest global digital payment corporations, announced on Tuesday, the 28th, a reduction of about 7% of its workforce, which corresponds to approximately 2,600 people.
Visa, one of the largest global digital payment corporations, announced on Tuesday, the 28th, a reduction of about 7% of its workforce, which corresponds to approximately 2,600 people.
According to the company itself, this measure is part of a strategy aimed at optimizing its operations and concentrating resources in areas considered priorities. The layoffs will mainly affect the company's technology and product development departments.
This reorganization takes place in a context where large companies in the technology and finance sectors are seeking to restructure their organizations due to the growing adoption of artificial intelligence.
The decision was made after a detailed analysis of Visa's operational model. The company declared its intention to focus on opportunities with greater growth potential while monitoring transformations occurring in the payments and commerce markets.
Visa's CEO, Ryan McInerney, formalized the internal communication through a memo sent to employees. He assured that the company maintains confidence in the implemented strategy, aiming to strengthen investment capacity in segments considered more promising.
McInerney clarified that Visa needs to continuously adapt its way of operating to keep up with industry news and changes, highlighting the crucial role of artificial intelligence as a tool to streamline internal transformations.
The cuts follow a trend seen in other large payment and technology companies. Mastercard, Visa's main rival, had already announced a 4% reduction in its global team, while Block reported reducing nearly half of its employees.
Although technology is a factor, Visa emphasized that artificial intelligence was not the only reason for the change. Technology has been used to automate repetitive tasks and accelerate product development phases, but operational efficiency was also an evaluation point.
As it closed the 2025 fiscal year, the company had around 34,100 employees, representing an 8% increase compared to the previous period. Despite the recent cut, analysts considered that this change would not significantly impact the company's trajectory.
Evercore ISI specialists classified the action as a cost and structural adjustment within a robust organization, suggesting that Visa is reallocating capital to areas with higher return potential.
The announcement came before the release of quarterly results. In the last two years, Visa has exceeded Wall Street expectations in most reports, with only one quarter showing results in line with analyst forecasts.
The company's good performance is also supported by the resilience of consumer spending. Since its revenue derives from the volume of processed transactions and not from direct credit granting, Visa's structure minimizes its exposure to default risk.
With its payment network present in over 200 countries and territories, Visa is used by billions of people daily. The company believes this model confers greater stability, even in scenarios of possible economic contraction.
In the financial market, the company's shares rose by about 1% in early trading after the announcement. Visa's market value exceeded US$ 683 billion, according to data provided by the LSEG report.
Amazon implemented another wave of job cuts in its General Artificial Intelligence (GAI) unit this Wednesday, the 22nd. This action follows a series of staff reductions the company has been promoting since the major reorganization announced in January.
GAI refers to a theoretical model of artificial intelligence that would have the capacity to surpass human intelligence, learning, evolving, and operating in a completely autonomous manner. Large corporations in the AI sector are investing in the development of these technologies with the aim of solving high-complexity problems.
An Amazon spokesperson responded to questions from Reuters, confirming that the development of large AI models remains a central priority for the company. However, the decision was made to direct resources toward projects considered more strategic.
The spokesperson stated: 'We have been building large AI models for several years, and this continues to be one of the most important things we are working on.' He added that the focus is being refined on initiatives that bring greater value to customers, which implies 'difficult decisions, including the elimination of some positions in parts of our GAI organization.'
Amazon's GAI area has also undergone management changes in recent months. Rohit Prasad, one of the key executives responsible for GAI initiatives, left the company at the end of last year. More recently, David Luan, who led Amazon's GAI Lab, left the company in February.
In December, activities related to GAI were unified under the direction of Senior Vice President Peter DeSantis, integrating into a broader group that also includes quantum computing and chip development (silicon) areas.
Reports from employees on online forums this Wednesday indicated that employees belonging to teams supervised by Adeeb Shanaa, Vice President of Data Services for General Artificial Intelligence, and Vishal Sharma, Vice President of GAI Information, were affected by the layoffs. Despite this, the exact total number of these cuts has not yet been disclosed.
It should be noted that in January, Amazon had already conducted a significant restructuring, resulting in the elimination of 16,000 positions across various areas of the company.
