Visa drops $18 billion IPO, the largest ever in US history.

&#60;PEDANTIC&#62; Important news and appropriate for HN, but the use of the word "drops" in the title is a poor word choice as it suggests that the IPO did NOT occur. If you're talking about the 'release' of a new hip-hip album, the word 'drops' might be appropriate...but it has the opposite meaning if you're talking about IPOs and lawsuits ;-) &#60;/PEDANTIC&#62;<p>Visa is a fascinating company. There was a really good article about it in Fast Company several years ago.

How hard was it for them to get "V"?<p>In other news, as late as yesterday, Visa was a private company. Crazy.

Congratulations to the JPMorgan deal team for putting together a great deal in really tough financial situations. I too had no idea that it was a private company.<p>To anyone wondering why their symbol isn't VISA: only NASDAQ companies have four-letter symbols. NYSE-listed companies have three letters or fewer.

VISA: it's everywhere you want to be, now including wall street.