Visa Cuts 2,600 Jobs, CEO Points to AI Acceleration

Visa has told employees it will cut 2,600 jobs, or 7 percent of its global workforce. The decision was announced on July 28, 2026, one day before the company's quarterly earnings release, and Visa explicitly cited the pace of change driven by artificial intelligence as part of its reasoning.

In a memo to employees, Visa CEO Ryan McInerney wrote that the company needs to change how it operates in order to capture upcoming market opportunities. The cuts will primarily affect technology and product teams, which grew fastest in recent years alongside investments in digital payments, cloud infrastructure and financial services.

What the CEO said

To capture the opportunities ahead and position Visa to best lead this transformation, we must continue to change the way we work - Ryan McInerney, CEO of Visa

McInerney also stressed that the decision doesn't stem from the company being in poor shape. In the memo he wrote about "real momentum" in the business, pointing to strong financial results, customer satisfaction and a faster pace of new product rollouts. He said affected employees would begin receiving information about next steps and support in transitioning to new jobs.

I have deep conviction that we are doing what's right for Visa, our clients and partners, by focusing on making the company more efficient so we can reinvest in our most promising areas - Ryan McInerney, CEO of Visa

The role of artificial intelligence

Visa isn't claiming AI is the sole reason for the layoffs. The company described artificial intelligence as a "contributing factor" to the restructuring rather than its exclusive cause. McInerney did, however, specifically point out that the technology reduces repetitive work and shortens product development cycles, which directly lowers demand for certain roles within technology divisions.

Visa plans to redirect the resources this frees up toward areas it has flagged as priorities: consumer payments, business and money-movement solutions, and higher-value-added services including stablecoins, cross-border payments and B2B offerings. That aligns with Visa's earlier announcements about investing in infrastructure around stablecoins and international settlement.

Layoffs after years of growth

The cuts follow a period of rapid team expansion. Visa's headcount grew 8 percent last year, largely driven by investments in cloud computing and digital payments. Trimming 2,600 positions brings employee numbers closer to pre-expansion levels, suggesting a correction in hiring pace rather than a reversal of the company's earlier strategy.

The market took the news calmly, even slightly positively: Visa shares rose about 1 percent after the announcement, ahead of the quarterly results scheduled for release the following day. Investors apparently read the move as a signal of cost discipline rather than business trouble.

A wave across the payments sector

Visa isn't the first major payments company to cut headcount over the past six months while citing efficiency and technological change. Mastercard laid off about 4 percent of its workforce six months earlier, and Block, Jack Dorsey's company behind Square and Cash App, eliminated nearly 4,000 positions in February. Visa is thus joining a trend in which financial-sector giants are growing revenue while shrinking teams, framing it as preparation for the AI era.

For the Polish market, Visa's decision carries indirect but real significance. The company processes a substantial share of card transactions in Poland, and its approach to automating technology and product processes tends to later be mirrored by local banking and fintech partners that rely on Visa's infrastructure.

What's next

The full financial picture of the restructuring will emerge with Visa's quarterly results, published a day after the layoffs were announced. The company has not yet given a timeline for completing the process or details of severance packages, saying only that affected employees would be contacted individually about next steps and job-search support.