Visa buys e-commerce company CyberSource for $2 billion

Visa has acquired e-commerce payment processor CyberSource for $2 billion in cash.

The credit card giant bought the electronic payment company on April 21 to increase the use of Visa debit, prepaid and credit cards for online purchases and to accelerate the e-commerce industry's growth at large, according to a Visa statement.

The acquisition will also expand CyberSource's international business, according to the statement. Most of the company's revenues are earned in the US.

CyberSource plays a role in processing 25% of all e-commerce dollars transacted in the US, according to Visa. It also counts British Airways, Home Depot, Facebook and Google as clients, according to a statement from Visa.

Rival MasterCard Advisors said in its SpendingPulse report this month that e-commerce and luxury retail sales outperformed all other retail and service categories in March, up 18.4% year-over-year. It was the category's eighth consecutive month of double-digit growth.