Mastercard (MA) kicked off 2025 with a strong first quarter, delivering impressive results fueled by resilient global consumer spending, robust activity across its payment network, and continued expansion in value-added services. Net revenue rose 14% year-over-year to $7.25 billion, or 17% on a currency-neutral basis, underscoring healthy underlying demand. Net income grew 9% to $3.28 billion, while diluted EPS increased 11% to $3.59. On an adjusted basis, net income rose 10% to $3.41 billion and EPS climbed 13% to $3.73.

The company’s “Payment Solutions” segment saw strong momentum. Payment network revenue increased 13% to $4.43 billion, driven by 9% growth in gross dollar volume (GDV) to $2.4 trillion, a 15% rise in cross-border volume, and a 9% increase in switched transactions. Mastercard also reported a 16% increase in value-added services and solutions revenue, reaching $2.82 billion, aided by security, authentication, and engagement tools, as well as recent acquisitions contributing four percentage points to growth.

Regionally, performance was strong across the board. Net revenue in the Americas rose to $3.15 billion, up from $2.77 billion, while revenue from Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa grew to $4.10 billion, up from $3.58 billion. These gains reflect Mastercard’s globally diversified model and strength across both developed and emerging markets.

Key volume metrics remained healthy, with purchase volume up 10%, cross-border volume up 15%, and a total of 3.5 billion Mastercard and Maestro-branded cards in circulation as of March 31, 2025.

On the expense front, total operating expenses rose 13% to $3.10 billion, primarily driven by increased personnel investment and marketing activity. Notably, advertising and marketing expenses surged 32%, while depreciation and amortization climbed 27%, reflecting strategic initiatives and software investments. The company also recorded a $151 million provision for litigation.

Despite higher expenses, operating income rose 15% to $4.15 billion, with the operating margin improving to 57.2%, and the adjusted margin reaching 59.3%. The effective tax rate increased to 18.6%, up from 15.4% a year ago, due to global tax reforms.

CEO Michael Miebach emphasized the company’s strong start to the year, pointing to innovation-led growth and partnerships with tech leaders like Microsoft and OpenAI, as well as a new collaboration with Corpay. He reinforced Mastercard’s ability to navigate economic headwinds through its resilient and diversified model.

In summary, Mastercard delivered a solid Q1 2025, with broad-based growth across geographies and business lines. Strong cross-border activity and the expanding suite of digital and value-added services played pivotal roles in the company’s continued momentum.