<story><title>Justice Department Sues to Block Visa&apos;s Proposed Acquisition of Plaid</title><url>https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-block-visas-proposed-acquisition-plaid</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>nobody9999</author><text>I was struck by this bit:
&amp;#x27;If Plaid remained free to develop its competing payment platform, then “Visa may be forced to accept lower margins or not have a competitive offering.&amp;quot;&amp;#x27;&lt;p&gt;My understanding is that Plaid would&amp;#x2F;could charge significantly less (up to 50% less) than Visa currently does.&lt;p&gt;And that&amp;#x27;s the value of &lt;i&gt;competition&lt;/i&gt;.  Not necessarily as a race to the bottom (as we&amp;#x27;ve seen in the airline industry, but that&amp;#x27;s another topic), but in providing Visa&amp;#x27;s &lt;i&gt;customers&lt;/i&gt; with viable, more cost-effective alternatives.&lt;p&gt;And that&amp;#x27;s been a problem (at least in the US) for a long time.  Big corporations buying up potential competitors in order to maintain both their market share &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; their overpriced offerings.</text></comment>
<story><title>Justice Department Sues to Block Visa&apos;s Proposed Acquisition of Plaid</title><url>https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-block-visas-proposed-acquisition-plaid</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>tempsy</author><text>Yeah I really didn’t like this deal when it was first announced.&lt;p&gt;Plaid has a ton of bank account and transaction data on competitors to Visa that gives it a ridiculous advantage over its competitors.</text></comment>