November 28, 2025
$47 billion.
That is the size of the Mastercard Foundation’s investment portfolio today — a diversified endowment that powers bold, long-term programs in education, financial inclusion and youth employment around the world. It began as a modest, quietly audacious act at Mastercard’s IPO in 2006, when the company issued 13,500,047 Class A shares to seed the Foundation. That one corporate choice — a decision to redirect value outward at the moment of going public — seeded a global force for good.
The former management and Board of Mastercard were the visionaries behind the proposal that led to the establishment of the Mastercard Foundation. Remarkably, they never sought publicity for their initiative, yet their foresight and leadership made possible the creation of one of the largest charities in the world.
Dear Mastercard Shareholders,
There is an important lesson in that origin story: great companies create value for many constituencies — customers, employees, shareholders, and communities. The Mastercard story is unusual because at a pivotal corporate moment its leaders chose to convert part of that value into enduring social capital. The original donation (valued at IPO price at roughly US$526 million) provided the seed that, combined with prudent investment and decades of programmatic focus, helped build a Foundation whose portfolio now measures in the tens of billions and whose commitments since inception exceed billions of dollars.
Why we added Mastercard to the BHI50:
1. Financial strength and innovation. Mastercard is not just a payments network; it is a global technology platform. In 2025 the company is advancing agentic commerce, end-to-end stablecoin capabilities, identity and password-free checkout, and Commerce Media — initiatives that position Mastercard at the center of how the world will buy, sell, authenticate and move value in the years ahead. These are the kinds of durable, scalable businesses we select for inclusion in the BHI50.
2. Values that endure beyond headlines. The Foundation’s scale and focused programs in Africa and in Canada demonstrate a long-term, systems-level approach to impact. Leaders and teams at the Foundation (today under Ms. Reeta Roy, with a planned leadership transition announced to Sewit Ahderom) run a rigorous program agenda that has converted charitable capital into measurable outcomes in education, livelihoods and financial inclusion. That alignment of corporate success with public purpose is precisely the moral and strategic fiber we prize.
3. Proof that character compounds. The original IPO gift had constraints and was later managed, diversified and deployed over time — that evolution, more than a single dollar figure, shows stewardship and governance at scale. Where some companies cash out or isolate profit, Mastercard’s history shows a different route: reinvest the gains into people and opportunity at scale. For investors in the BHI50, that combination of growth and stewardship matters as much as any earnings multiple.
So, at this season of gratitude, we celebrate a company that combines a technology-driven future with an unusually public commitment to social good. We are proud to add Mastercard to the BHI50™ Select Index — because excellence in business means little unless it is married to a broader responsibility to humanity.
Thank you for adding value to the BHI50 by doing more than grow earnings: by building institutions and legacies that uplift communities.
Visit Mastercard:
Visit Mastercard Foundation:
Warm holiday wishes to you and yours — and may the new year bring plenty of commerce, courage, and compassion.
About BHBAI
BHBAI™ is a consortium of institutional investors that unites The World’s Most Intelligent Enterprises through the BHI500™ and BHI50™ indices. Using ERP-sourced operational data, blockchain verification, and Symbiosis Score AI™ (SS/AI), BHBAI enables real-time collaboration, forecasting, and strategic alignment across 40 countries. Its mission is to accelerate intelligent industries, enhance cross-enterprise efficiency, and create sustainable value for investors, executives, and innovation leaders.
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Claudia Meyer
Director of Communications, BHBAI
About The Global AI Center, Boracay
The Global AI Center (GAIC) is the world's first AI-focused facility on an island. The real estate development located in Boracay, Philippines provides state-of-the-art office spaces, collaborative environments, and nearby luxury residences for international AI experts and Filipino professionals. Designed as a hub for innovation, GAIC supports AI deployment for BHI500 Index Enterprises, hosts international conferences, and fosters a thriving community in the heart of Boracay’s White Beach area, voted Best Beach in the World by Condé Nast.
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NVIDIA BLACKWELL, IBM WATSONX
ACCENTURE AI FOUNDRY & REFINERY
CONSUMER AND MOBILE PLATFORM
GOOGLE FIREBASE
ERP PLATFORMS
SAP S/4HANA + BTP + SIEMENS XCELERATOR + MENDIX
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US & Global: GOOGLE CLOUD — Europe: GAIA-X & SWISS OPEN TELEKOM CLOUD — China: ALIBABA CLOUD / ALIYUN 阿里云
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MASTERCARD CRYPTO CREDENTIAL
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Zoey Santos
AI Coordinator, GAIC
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