CyberSource began as the payment system inside software.net, an early online software store. The store had built tools to accept cards and spot fraud, and other merchants needed the same tools. In 1999 any business that wanted to sell online had to work out how to take a stranger's credit card and know it was real. CyberSource sold the answer as a service. It went public that June.

Plumbing for Online Commerce

William McKiernan started CyberSource in 1996 inside software.net. A merchant's website passed each order to CyberSource. CyberSource authorized the card, checked for fraud, and handled tax and export rules. It was one of the first companies to sell payment processing over the internet to other internet companies. The bet was that the plumbing of online commerce would be a business of its own. CyberSource charged per transaction, so it grew as online shopping grew.

Visa Buys the Plumbing

CyberSource priced its offering at $11 a share in June 1999. The stock climbed fast and then collapsed in the dot-com crash. The company kept its core business and stayed independent. In 2007 it bought Authorize.Net, adding thousands of small merchants. Visa acquired CyberSource in 2010 for about $2 billion. The name lives on as Visa's platform for online payments.

Cover: The Merchant (Sho) from the series Beauties Illustrating the Four Classes, Torii Kiyonaga. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a merchant (selling online).