(Reuters) - Card giant Visa is planning to lay off about 1,400 employees and contractors by the end of the year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

About 1,000 of the cuts are expected to eliminate technology positions, the WSJ reported, adding that most of the other layoffs would focus on Visa's merchant sales and global digital partnership roles.

Some of the layoffs occurred last week, according to the report. Visa plans to keep its workers in the global digital partnership teams employed through the end of the year, it added.

Visa did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The world's largest payments processor is set to report its fourth-quarter earnings after the market closes.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)