As the decline in macroeconomic factors persists globally, consumer spending via payment giant Mastercard has continued to decline along with the company’s shares.

The company shares slipped 1.1% to $378.35 yesterday morning in New York trading after it warned revenue growth would slow faster than expected in the first quarter (Q1), noting that the high cost of inflation has impacted consumer spending.

It further disclosed that spending on its cards increased by 11% to $1.73 trillion in the fourth quarter, missing the $1.77 trillion average estimated by analysts.

Net revenue for the fourth quarter (Q4) jumped  12% to $5.82 billion, in line with the $5.8 billion average analyst estimate. The company reported earnings of $2.53 billion for the final quarter of the year, at a share price of $2.62.

MasterCard expressed concern that its revenue for the first quarter (Q1) would climb by a percentage in the high end of the high single digits, meanwhile analysts predict it would increase by 10%.

Speaking about the impact of the Macroeconomic factors on its card usage, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said in a statement, “While Macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty persists, consumer spending has been remarkably resilient. We are well prepared to adjust our investment profile quickly if needed”.

“Meanwhile if we look at the broader economy, we see a continued recovery of cross-border travel, with volumes up 59% versus a year ago and were encouraged by Asia opening up further”.

Investors King understands that Mastercard and its rival Visa Inc. have disclosed that so far, the surging inflation hasn’t affected consumers’ overall spending patterns, instead card customers have shifted their spending to lower-cost items or generic brands.

Meanwhile, consumer spending is proving to be resilient in the face of surging inflation in the U.S., but spending on goods, led by food and beverages, gasoline and motor vehicles, declined in the third quarter of last year.

According to MasterCard SpendingPulse, which measures in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment, U.S. retail spending excluding automotive increased +11.2% year-over-year during the holiday season last year, running from November 1 through December 24.

The global spend on B2B cross-border payments will exceed $40 trillion by the end of 2024; increasing from $37 trillion in 2022.

This growth of $3 trillion (9%) will be driven by the rising popularity of eCommerce marketplaces, where eCommerce merchants are based in international locations; selling goods internationally via locally based eCommerce services.

A cross-border B2B payment is any payment between businesses for goods or services made internationally; irrespective of the different payment methods involved.

Instant Payments Improve the B2B Cross-border Experience

Cross-border transactions have typically been slow, expensive and difficult to track, a problem that has been exacerbated by the complex accounts payable processes common with larger enterprises. However, the rise of cross-border instant payments, where payments are transacted in 10 seconds or under, is significantly improving this difficult situation. Currently, instant payments are restricted to certain cross-border destinations.

Research co-author Nick Maynard explained further: “While cross-border instant payments are not yet widespread, only accounting for 8% of cross-border transactions by value globally in 2024, significant progress is being made in linking up national instant payment schemes. This can unlock substantial improvements for B2B transactions. B2B payment vendors must be driving further integration of the instant payment rails they support on a national level to solve the difficult challenges with legacy payment channels.”

Marketplace Model Promising, but Creates Challenges

The research found that the marketplace model within eCommerce is driving growth within both cross-border B2B payments and the eCommerce payments market. However, given the marketplace model involves multiple different vendors, all paying each other at different times in different ways, this creates considerable complexity and difficulties in reconciliation, FX (Foreign Exchange) and fraud prevention.

As such, the report recommends that B2B payment vendors offer features such as integrated virtual cards and virtual IBANs (International Bank Account Numbers) for local payments, to correctly address these challenges.

Online payment platform Stripe has slashed internal value of its shares by 11%, putting the company’s internal valuation at $63 billion.

The internal valuation known as 409A, is a stark departure from its external departure, as this is reportedly the third time since June last year that the startup has cut its internal valuation.

Stripe’s recent valuation of $63 billion, represents a 33% decline from its valuation at $95 billion in 2021 during the peak of the pandemic which benefitted them.

Also, the cut in valuation currently puts the startup’s internal per-share price at $24.71, 40% down since it peaked.

Reports reveal that the lower Internal price cuts the price of new stock-based compensation, which could help the startup reset expectations ahead of any public listing.

Investors King understands that Stripe’s recent change in valuation was not prompted by a new funding round, but rather a new 409A price change which is set by third parties.

In the past few months, Stripe has continued to witness their internal valuation updated in a 409A appraisal process.

Recall that in July 2022, the company which was worth $95 billion, reduced the value of its shares by 28% which saw its internal share price valued at $40, down to $29.

Reports revealed that Stripe’s lower valuation happened against the backdrop of an ongoing market sell-off that hampered private fundraising which led startups to cut costs and jobs.

The startup had reached $95 billion valuation in March 2022 after raising $600 million, which saw it emerge as Silicon valley’s most private company.

The company which was founded in 2010 by Irish entrepreneurs Patrick and John Collison, saw its fortune blossom during the pandemic which resulted in the surge in online shopping.

More than 200,000 companies were reported to have signed up for stripe between the start of the pandemic and early 2021, with the company’s system processing more than 5,000 requests per second in 2021.