Mastercard Inc

Mastercard operates a global payment network that connects banks, merchants, and cardholders. It earns fees every time a Mastercard-branded card is used to make a purchase or payment — charging a small percentage of transaction volume plus per-transaction fees. Mastercard doesn't lend money or issue cards itself; banks and financial institutions do that. Mastercard simply runs the rails that authorize, clear, and settle transactions between them. Customers are essentially the banks and issuers who license the Mastercard network, with merchants and consumers as the end users. Revenue scales with transaction volume and cross-border spending.