What happened: Visa has made a $100 million offer to become the card partner of the new Apple Card setup (Reuters). The Apple Card was initially announced in 2019 in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard.
Details: The card received much media attention in the early days. However, Apple and Goldman Sachs were never really happy with the partnership, which resulted in substantial losses for the US bank (9to5Mac). The two companies decided to wind down their partnership once Apple had successfully found a new partner. Apple is a very secretive company, so we will only know for sure when the company announces the new setup. Initial rumours indicated that American Express would have the best shot at replacing the existing partners, but it seems that Visa is not giving up that easily.
Such a bid to take over a card portfolio from a competitor is not uncommon, and even though the current partners are struggling to make it work for them, the Apple Card product remains highly attractive. According to some rumours, Apple had signed a lengthy exclusivity deal with Mastercard, so we must see if Visa’s bid is attractive enough for Apple.
