Music fans will have access like never before to private events, exclusive performances and insider experiences

Purchase, NY (February 9, 2016) – For the first time, MasterCard is creating a week-long celebration of music for its cardholders culminating with Music’s Biggest Night®—the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards®. Through a series of concerts and special events, music fans will have access to experiences once open only to music industry insiders.

“We know that music is a passion for people everywhere,” said Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing officer, MasterCard. “With that in mind, we decided to leverage our long-time partnership with The Recording Academy and celebrate music as a passion. This year, we are providing our cardholders exclusive, insider access to GRAMMY winning artists and experiences leading up to Music’s Biggest Night.”

The week includes a line-up of concerts and events featuring some of today’s most popular artists. For additional details and to purchase tickets, cardholders can visit www.priceless.com/music.

Produced in partnership with Billboard, MasterCard kicks off the week with an impressive line-up of shows for its cardholders:

Later on in the week, MasterCard teams up with Westwood One to bring a performance by DNCE to its cardholders as well as an exclusive cocktail reception at Capitol Records Studios:

Other experiences MasterCard will provide its cardholders exclusive access to include:

The MasterCard Rock the Red Carpet Truck, a mobile red carpet experience where cardholders can go from their everyday look to red carpet ready, will also make rounds in the Los Angeles area in the week leading up to the GRAMMY Awards. At the truck, consumers will get glammed up and styled in black-tie attire before having the chance to show they can rock the red carpet. Cardholders can follow @MasterCard on Twitter and Instagram to find out where the truck will be each day—and may even get a Priceless Surprise for participating.

Taking Place at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be broadcast live on the CBS Television Network, Monday, February 15 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

About MasterCard

MasterCard, www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

 About The Recording Academy

Established in 1957, The Recording Academy is an organization of musicians, songwriters, producers, engineers, and recording professionals dedicated to improving the cultural condition and quality of life for music and its makers. Internationally known for the GRAMMY Awards — the preeminent peer-recognized award for musical excellence and the most credible brand in music — The Recording Academy is responsible for groundbreaking professional development, cultural enrichment, advocacy, education, and human services programs. The Academy continues to focus on its mission of recognizing musical excellence, advocating for the well-being of music makers and ensuring music remains an indelible part of our culture. For more information about The Academy, please visit www.grammy.com. For breaking news and exclusive content, follow @TheGRAMMYs on Twitter, “like” The GRAMMYs on Facebook and join the GRAMMYs’ social communities on Google+, Instagram, Tumblr, and YouTube.

Media Contact:

Sarah Ely

(914) 249-6714

Today, February 4, marks Facebook’s 12th birthday. Each year we recognize this day as Friends Day and invite the world to celebrate and reflect on the importance of connecting.

When people connect, powerful things happen and lives are changed. We see this on Facebook every day, whether it’s an exchange with an old friend that brings a smile to your face or a new connection that changes your life path, or even the world.

To celebrate, we are releasing an updated degrees of separation statistic, highlighting inspiring stories about the power of friendship, and launching new products to further encourage our community to rally around their friends today.

Facebook Community Continues to Grow Closer
We know that people are more connected today than ever before. Over the past five years, the global Facebook community has more than doubled in size. Today we’re announcing that during that same time period, the degrees of separation between a typical pair of Facebook users has continued to decrease to 3.57 degrees, down from 3.74 degrees in 2011. This is a significant reflection of how closely connected the world has become.

Introducing Friends Day Videos
To help our community celebrate the importance of friendship, we’re delivering a personalized Friends Day video to millions of people around the world. These videos stitch together special moments with your friends in a short film that can be edited and shared. People can view their video at the top of News Feed, or by clicking “Watch Yours” below a friend’s Friends Day video.

Telling Stories of Friendship
Friends Day is also an occasion to celebrate extraordinary stories about the power of friendship. GirlCrew, a Facebook group originally created in Dublin, empowers women to find friends and organize events in their area. There are now 22,000 people in GirlCrew Facebook groups in more than 40 cities worldwide. Earlier this week, we hosted an intimate Friends Day event where 18 members of the Facebook community with incredible stories, including GirlCrew, were invited to come to our Menlo Park headquarters.

Best Friends and Friendship Sticker Packs
To give people a fun way to show friends they care, we’re releasing two sticker packs called “Best Friends” and “Friendship.” These packs are now available to download for free in the Sticker Store, which can be accessed in Messenger or at facebook.com/stickers.

This Friends Day, take a moment to connect with your friends, share your Friends Day videos, and post using the hashtag #friendsday.

By Cheng Zhang, Software Engineer, and Si Chen, Software Engineer

The goal of News Feed is to show you the stories that matter most to you. The actions people take on Facebook—liking, clicking, commenting or sharing a post—are historically some of the main factors considered to determine what to show at the top of your News Feed. But these factors don’t always tell us the whole story of what is most meaningful to you.

As part of our ongoing effort to improve News Feed, we ask over a thousand people to rate their experience every day and tell us how we can improve the content they see when they check Facebook — we call this our Feed Quality Panel. We also survey tens of thousands of people around the world each day to learn more about how well we’re ranking each person’s feed. We ask people to rate each story from one to five stars in response to the question “how much did you want to see this story in your News Feed?” From this research using a representative sample of people, we are able to better understand which stories people would be interested in seeing near the top of their News Feed even if they choose not to click, like or comment on them — and use this information to make ranking changes.

We saw through our research that people reported having a better News Feed experience when the stories they see at the top are stories they are both likely to rate highly if asked and likely to engage with.

We are making an update to News Feed that combines these two signals. News Feed will begin to look at both the probability that you would want to see the story at the top of your feed and the probability that you will like, comment on, click or share a story. We will rank stories higher in feed which we think people might take action on, and which people might want to see near the top of their News Feed.

How will this affect my Page?
The impact of these changes on a story’s distribution will vary depending on the composition of your audience and your posting activity. In general this update should not impact reach or referral traffic meaningfully for the majority of Pages; however, some Pages may see some increases in referral traffic, and some Pages may see some declines in referral traffic. Pages might see some declines in referral traffic if the rate at which their stories are clicked on does not match how much people report wanting to see those stories near the top of their News Feed. This update helps rebalance those two factors, so people are seeing relevant stories to them.

In general, Pages should avoid encouraging people to take an action (such as encouraging lots of clicks), because this will likely only cause temporary spikes in metrics that might then be rebalanced by feed’s ranking over time. As this change takes effect, we’ll be learning about what possible factors or posting strategies may lead to increases or declines in referral traffic, and we are committed to communicating with our partners about those findings. Look for updates at our News Feed Best Practices page, and in the News, Media and Publishing Facebook group. Overall, Pages should continue to post things that your audience finds meaningful and continue using our Page post best practices.

Four Commerce Startups Selected to Participate; Receive Operational Mentorship

SANTA CLARA, Calif.  –– February 9, 2016 —Silicon Valley Bank and MasterCard have selected four startups to participate in the fourth class of Commerce.Innovated., a virtual accelerator designed to help commerce startups grow their businesses. From mobile lending to instant authentication and identity checks, the new class is developing innovative solutions for businesses in the digital age. As part of Commerce.Innovated., the four startups will go through the four-month virtual program that provides resources to help refine and enhance their business ideas through access to operational expertise from Silicon Valley Bank, MasterCard and their respective networks.

The four companies that were selected to participate in the current class come from various parts of the U.S. and are in various stages of funding including one startup that is in stealth mode and not included in the list below:

“We’re excited to work with the next class of Commerce.Innovated.,” said Reetika Grewal, head of Silicon Valley Bank’s payments strategy. “The commerce and fintech sectors continue to gain momentum as startups work to balance innovation and their regulatory requirements. We love working side by side with these incredible entrepreneurs and lending our knowledge and networks to help them   develop the infrastructure and operations that they need to accelerate their growth.”

“This program is an important element of our engagement with local startups developing breakthrough commerce solutions,” said Stephane Wyper, vice president of startup engagement and acceleration for MasterCard. “It is important that we support startups that are bringing fresh, creative ideas and experimenting with next generation of solutions, as they will create better experiences for our customers, partners, and the entire commerce ecosystem.”

Commerce.Innovated. launched in 2014 and has worked with 15 commerce-focused startups to date, including Apruve, AppZen, CardFlight, Dash, Footmarks, Gone, Local Maven, Nowsta, PayByGroup, Penny Owl, Slide, Spendlabs, Splitwise and Standard Treasury.

“Commerce Innovated has been a key contributor to the strategic decisions that shaped our product as well as the growth of the company,” said Anant Kale, CEO of AppZen. “The connections, resources and expertise we gained through the program were very helpful in making the right decisions and we look forward to a lasting relationship with our partners at Commerce Innovated.”

Full program details are available at www.commerceinnovated.com.  Applications for the next class will open in April 2016.

About MasterCard
MasterCard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news.

About Silicon Valley Bank
For more than 30 years, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has helped innovative companies and their investors move bold ideas forward, fast. SVB provides targeted financial services and expertise through its offices in innovation centers around the world. With commercial, international and private banking services, SVB helps address the unique needs of innovators. Learn more at svb.com.

©2016 SVB Financial Group. All rights reserved. Silicon Valley Bank is the California bank subsidiary of SVB Financial Group. Silicon Valley Bank is a member of FDIC and Federal Reserve System. SVB>, SVB Financial Group, and Silicon Valley Bank, are trademarks of SVB Financial Group, used under license.

Contacts

Chaiti Sen

MasterCard

917.408.2912

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Julia Thompson

Silicon Valley Bank

415.764.4707

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Purchase, NY, February 1, 2016 – MasterCard today announced the appointment of Alexander N.M. Niejelow as a senior vice president of public policy, effective February 8, 2016.

In this role, he will drive policy efforts in the areas of cybersecurity and global data management, while also leading the company’s industry partnerships on technology policy issues.  In these efforts, Niejelow will work with members of the global public policy and information governance and privacy teams.

Since 2013, Niejelow served as director for cybersecurity policy on President Obama’s National Security Council. He was also chief of staff to the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, where he helped coordinate the administration’s efforts to develop and enforce intellectual property and patent policies.

“Alex’s deep understanding of domestic and international cybersecurity threats will help our efforts in working with partners and governments across the globe,” said Tim Murphy, general counsel of MasterCard.

Prior to joining the Obama administration, Niejelow was a senior associate at the Pew Charitable Trusts, where he analyzed and provided recommendations on enhancing the security of the global pharmaceutical supply chain. He worked in the litigation department of Paul, Weiss, Rikind, Wharton & Garrison before joining the Department of Homeland Security in 2010 as a senior advisor on international trade policy and operations.

Niejelow holds a doctor of jurisprudence degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Duke University.

​# # #

About MasterCard
MasterCard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

PURCHASE, N.Y.– MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter of 2015. The company reported net income of $890 million, an increase of 11%, or 18% after adjusting for currency, and earnings per diluted share of $0.79, up 14%, or 22% when adjusted for currency, versus the year-ago period. Acquisitions had a $0.03 dilutive impact on earnings per diluted share in the quarter.

Net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2015 was $2.5 billion, a 4% increase versus the same period in 2014. Adjusted for currency, net revenue increased 9%. Net revenue growth was driven by the impact of the following:

These factors were partially offset by an increase in rebates and incentives, primarily due to new and renewed agreements and increased volumes. Acquisitions contributed 2 percentage points to total net revenue growth.

Worldwide purchase volume during the quarter was up 12% on a local currency basis versus the fourth quarter of 2014, to $883 billion. As of December 31, 2015, the company’s customers had issued 2.3 billion MasterCard and Maestro-branded cards.

“Despite a challenging economy, we were able to deliver solid results for the quarter and the full year in 2015,” said Ajay Banga, president and CEO, MasterCard. “Entering 2016, while uncertainty in the global economy persists, the fundamentals of our business and our approach remain unchanged. We continue to be laser focused on our strategy to lead payment innovation in an increasingly digital world with solutions such as MasterPass, while growing the use of electronic payments through our products, partnerships and increased acceptance at the point-of-sale.”

Total operating expenses increased 1%, or 4% when adjusted for currency, to $1.4 billion during the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. The increase was primarily due to continued investments to support strategic initiatives, as well as the impact of acquisitions, which contributed 4 percentage points of the FX-adjusted growth, partially offset by ongoing cost management initiatives.

Operating income for the fourth quarter of 2015 increased 9%, or 17% adjusted for currency, versus the year-ago period. The company delivered an operating margin of 44.0%.

MasterCard reported other expense of $82 million in the fourth quarter of 2015 versus $11 million in the fourth quarter of 2014. The change was mainly driven by impairment charges on certain investments and by higher interest expense related to the company’s Euro debt offering in November 2015, partially offset by tax reserve adjustments and investment gains.

MasterCard’s effective tax rate was 13.1% in the fourth quarter of 2015, versus a rate of 20.3% in the comparable period in 2014. The decrease was primarily due to the recognition of discrete tax benefits in the fourth quarter of 2015 resulting from the impact of settlements with tax authorities during the quarter.

During the fourth quarter of 2015, MasterCard repurchased approximately 8 million shares of Class A common stock at a cost of $793 million. Quarter-to-date through January 22nd, the company repurchased an additional 3.1 million shares at a cost of $283 million, with $4.2 billion remaining under current repurchase program authorizations.

Full-Year 2015 Results

For the full-year 2015, excluding special items, MasterCard reported net income of $3.9 billion, an increase of 8%, or 15% after adjusting for currency, versus the year-ago period and earnings per diluted share of $3.43, up 11%, or 18% after adjusting for currency compared to the same period in 2014. The special items included after-tax charges of $44 million related to a U.K. merchant litigation settlement and $50 million related to the termination of the U.S. employee pension plan, recorded in the second and third quarters of 2015, respectively. Including the special items, net income was $3.8 billion and earnings per diluted share was $3.35. Acquisitions had an $0.11 dilutive impact on earnings per diluted share in the full-year period.

Net revenue for the full-year 2015 was $9.7 billion, an increase of 2%, or 8% after adjusting for currency, versus the same period in 2014. Gross dollar volume growth of 13%, transaction processing growth of 12% and cross-border volume growth of 16% contributed to the net revenue growth in the full-year period. These factors were partially offset by an increase in rebates and incentives. Acquisitions contributed 2 percentage points to total net revenue growth.

Excluding the special items, total operating expenses increased 3%, or 6% after adjusting for currency, to $4.4 billion for the full-year 2015, compared to the same period in 2014. The increase was primarily due to continued investments to support strategic initiatives as well as the impact of acquisitions, which contributed 6 percentage points of the FX-adjusted growth, partially offset by ongoing cost management initiatives and foreign exchange gains. Including the special items, total operating expenses increased 6%, or 10% after adjusting for currency, from the year-ago period.

Excluding the special items, operating income was $5.2 billion, an increase of 2% for full-year 2015 versus the same period in 2014, or an increase of 10% after adjusting for currency. The company delivered an operating margin of 54.0%.

MasterCard reported other expense of $120 million for the full-year 2015 versus $27 million compared to the same period in 2014. The change was mainly driven by impairment charges on certain investments and by higher interest expense resulting from debt issued in 2014 and 2015.

MasterCard’s effective tax rate was 23.4% for full-year 2015 versus a rate of 28.8% in the same period in 2014, excluding the special items. The decrease was primarily due to the recognition of discrete tax benefits in 2015 resulting from the impact of settlements with tax authorities, the recognition of a U.S. foreign tax credit and a more favorable geographic mix of taxable earnings.

Fourth-Quarter Financial Results Conference Call Details

At 9:00 a.m. ET today, the company will host a conference call to discuss its fourth-quarter financial results.

The dial-in information for this call is 866-393-4306 (within the U.S.) and 734-385-2616 (outside the U.S.), and the passcode is 12827852. A replay of the call will be available for 30 days and can be accessed by dialing 855-859-2056 (within the U.S.) and 404-537-3406 (outside the U.S.), and using passcode 12827852.

This call can also be accessed through the Investor Relations section of the company’s website at www.mastercard.com/investor.

Non-GAAP Financial Information

The company has presented certain financial data that are considered non-GAAP financial measures that are reconciled to their most directly comparable GAAP measures in the accompanying tables.

The presentation of growth rates adjusted for currency represent a non-GAAP measure and are calculated by remeasuring the prior period’s results using the current period’s exchange rates.

About MasterCard Incorporated

MasterCard (NYSE:MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release which are not historical facts, including statements about MasterCard’s plans, strategies, beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking and subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Accordingly, except for the company’s ongoing obligations under the U.S. federal securities laws, the company does not intend to update or otherwise revise the forward-looking information to reflect actual results of operations, changes in financial condition, changes in estimates, expectations or assumptions, changes in general economic or industry conditions or other circumstances arising and/or existing since the preparation of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of any unanticipated events. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements related to our business performance and the execution of our strategy to lead payment innovation and grow electronic payments use.

Actual results may differ materially from such forward-looking statements for a number of reasons, including those set forth in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K, as well as reasons including difficulties, delays or the inability of the company to achieve its strategic initiatives set forth above. Factors other than those listed above could also cause the company’s results to differ materially from expected results.

Footnote

The tables set forth the gross dollar volume (“GDV”), purchase volume, cash volume and the number of purchase transactions, cash transactions, accounts and cards on a regional and global basis for MasterCard®-branded and MasterCard Electronic™-branded cards. Growth rates over prior periods are provided for volume-based data.

Debit transactions on Maestro® and Cirrus®-branded cards and transactions involving brands other than MasterCard are not included in the preceding tables.

For purposes of the table: GDV represents purchase volume plus cash volume and includes the impact of balance transfers and convenience checks; “purchase volume” means the aggregate dollar amount of purchases made with MasterCard-branded cards for the relevant period; and “cash volume” means the aggregate dollar amount of cash disbursements obtained with MasterCard-branded cards for the relevant period. The number of cards includes virtual cards, which are MasterCard-branded payment accounts that do not generally have physical cards associated with them.

The MasterCard payment product is comprised of credit, charge and debit programs, and data relating to each type of program is included in the tables. Debit programs include MasterCard-branded debit programs where the primary means of cardholder validation at the point of sale is for cardholders either to sign a sales receipt or enter a PIN. The tables include information with respect to transactions involving MasterCard-branded cards that are not processed by MasterCard and transactions for which MasterCard does not earn significant revenues.

Information denominated in U.S. dollars is calculated by applying an established U.S. dollar/local currency exchange rate for each local currency in which MasterCard volumes are reported. These exchange rates are calculated on a quarterly basis using the average exchange rate for each quarter. MasterCard reports period-over-period rates of change in purchase volume and cash volume on the basis of local currency information, in order to eliminate the impact of changes in the value of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar in calculating such rates of change.

The data set forth in the GDV, purchase volume, purchase transactions, cash volume and cash transactions columns is provided by MasterCard customers and is subject to verification by MasterCard and partial cross-checking against information provided by MasterCard’s transaction processing systems. The data set forth in the accounts and cards columns is provided by MasterCard customers and is subject to certain limited verification by MasterCard. A portion of the data set forth in the accounts and cards columns reflects the impact of routine portfolio changes among customers and other practices that may lead to over counting of the underlying data in certain circumstances. All data is subject to revision and amendment by MasterCard’s customers subsequent to the date of its release.

In 2015 Q3, several customers purged inactive MasterCard cards and accounts. Data for the comparable periods has been revised to be consistent with this approach.

Performance information for prior periods can be found in the “Investor Relations” section of the MasterCard website at www.mastercard.com/investor.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160129005428/en/

Source: MasterCard Investor Relations

MasterCard Incorporated
Investor Relations:
Barbara Gasper or Matt Lanford, 914-249-4565
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or
Media Relations:
Seth Eisen, 914-249-3153
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