Shares of MasterCard rise on the first day of trading

Shares of MasterCard rise on the first day of trading

MasterCard made a debut in the stock market today and the shares rose as much as 15 percent in the first day of trading.

The shares were up $4.50 to $43.50 in midday trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Earlier, they had a touched a high of $44.98.

This is totally in contrast to the other big debut in the stock market Vonage that fell down on the first day of trading in the exchange.

MasterCard Chief Executive Robert Selander talked with media on this launch: “The markets have been pretty choppy the last couple of weeks. We thought it was important for us to get this deal done.”

The company plans to use all but $650 million of the IPO proceeds to redeem Class B shares. Rest of the funds would be used to defend against legal and regulatory challenges and expanding into new markets and financial fields.