Visa Drops After WSJ Says DOJ Investigating By Investing.com

By Christiana Sciaudone

Investing.com — Visa (NYSE:V) dropped after The Wall Street Journal said it was being investigated for anticompetitive practices by the Justice Department, citing people familiar.

The investigation is focused on whether Visa is engaging in anticompetitive practices in the debit-card market, specifically looking at whether Visa has limited merchants’ ability to route debit-card transactions over card networks that are often less expensive, the Journal reported, citing the people familiar.

The department is considering whether Visa’s practices are allowing it to maintain a dominant market share unlawfully, the people said.

The investigation comes at a time when competitors are lining up, with Stripe becoming this week the most valuable fintech company at $95 billion. Visa dominates the debit card market, with a 73% market share in 2018, according to the Motley Fool.