Dive Brief:

• Card issuer Marqeta is forecasting choppier financial results later this year as its largest customer, Block, reaps lower pricing from its Cash App debit card program and moves some new business to an alternate provider.
• Players in the payments field, like Block, often have multiple providers but concentrate the majority of their business with one of them, Marqeta CEO Mike Milotich said on a conference call Tuesday with analysts. “How that plays out for us with Cash App remains to be seen, but we feel really good about our ability to remain their primary partner,” he said.
• Marqeta also said in an investor presentation that the company expects to report a small net income of about $10 million this year, which would be the first since 2024 when the Oakland, California-based company turned profitable by not making an executive incentive payout, according to its 10-K filing this week.

Dive Insight:

Block – the parent of Cash App, Square and Afterpay – accounted for 45% of Marqeta’s revenue last year, down from 47% the prior year and 68% in 2023. That huge client announced a major change to its own business Thursday, saying it would eliminate 40% of its workforce and pivot toward increased use of artificial intelligence.

Milotich, who is Marqeta’s former CFO, was appointed to the top post on an interim basis in February 2025, becoming the company’s third CEO in as many years. He became the CEO seven months later.

An August 2023 contract amendment specified that Block is “responsible for defining and managing the Cash App program with respect to the primary Card Network going forward,” Marqeta said in its 10-K filing. That change will reduce Marqeta’s revenue from the agreement.

To “incentivize” Block’s volume growth, Milotich said Marqeta included in the 2023 revised contract a price tier “that steps down two times the size of other pricing tiers.” Block reached that new tier in December 2025 and is likely to remain there for all of 2026, “creating an unfavorable year-over-year comparison,” the CEO said.

Marqeta’s contract with Block for Cash App and Square cards ends in June 2028, according to Marqeta’s 10-K filing this week.

In response to an analyst’s question on competition from Visa, Milotich said that the card network’s Direct Processing Services unit has increased its capabilities in recent years. Visa DPS offers a payment processing platform and other tools for financial institutions and fintech companies.

“They have a lot of credibility to say they can handle your business at scale with great reliability,” Milotich said of Visa’s pursuit of larger companies such as Block. “A couple of years ago, we didn't really see them much,” he added. “I think as we go after bigger and bigger business, then [Visa] would be maybe a competitor we’ll see a little more frequently.”

Marqeta’s total processing volume rose 36% in the fourth quarter, to $109 billion, and was the first time the company has topped $100 billion in a quarter. Full-year TPV rose 31% to $383 billion compared to $291 billion in 2024. For the full year, Marqeta posted a $13.9 million net loss compared to a $27.3 million profit in 2024, due to the unpaid executive compensation.

Analysts who follow the company were tentative about the results. 

“Visibility into the company’s long-term sustainable growth rate remains limited by high customer concentration risk … potential renewals, vertical mix, and what appears to be increased competition from emerging providers and industry incumbents,” analysts at the financial firm William Blair wrote Wednesday in a client note.

The quarterly report was the first for Marqeta’s new chief financial officer, Patti Kangwankij, a former Stripe and JPMorgan Chase executive who joined the company this month.