Visa Inc.

Visa prioritizes high‑return organic investments (network, AI risk, acceptance, Visa Direct) and complements them with tuck‑in M&A (Pismo for issuer processing, Featurespace for AI fraud).

It returns substantial excess cash via buybacks and dividends: a new 30B multi‑year authorization in Apr 2025, ~13.2B repurchased in 9M FY25, and consistent dividend growth (Q3 FY25 dividend declared at $0.59). SBC is present but modest as a percent of FCF, and net share count has trended down.

Overall, capital allocation has been disciplined and shareholder‑friendly.