In the late 90s, paying for things online still had a stigma attached to it. There wasn’t any assurance that goods would be delivered or that faulty payments would be recovered. It was wild west and PayPal was one of the first payment solutions to try and civilise it.
PayPal was formed when two companies, Confinity and X.com, merged. Elon Musk, of Tesla and SpaceX fame, was CEO of this combined company for a time. As he would in the future, he zoned in on the vision of PayPal’s future and terminated all other operations that were deemed unnecessary.
That didn’t go down well with PayPal’s board members, who got rid of Musk in October 2000. He had been CEO for less than 12 months. The lack of faith from the board would sit with Musk during his next ventures, where he ensured he had complete control.
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Get StartedAfter Musk left, Peter Thiel took over as CEO as guided PayPal towards its 2002 IPO. PayPal provided its platform to all websites, but the bulk of its transactions were conducted on eBay. A few months after the IPO, eBay agreed to acquire PayPal for $1.5 billion.
For the next decade, PayPal coexisted inside eBay’s rather tumultuous world, in which the e-commerce platform tried to expand in every direction, acquiring Skype and a range of classified advertising networks.
In that time, PayPal spent $800 million to acquire Braintree and Venmo, bolstering its position as a provider of financial services. And as eBay started to feel the effects of a decade of muddled leadership, PayPal looked at a future beyond the e-commerce platform, but first it would need to separate.
In 2015, eBay announced it would spin out PayPal as a separate entity. Several major eBay shareholders pushed for the split, as they had with the Skype sale in 2009. eBay held a minority stake in the new company, but has since divested almost all shares in the company.
PayPal missed many opportunities that came with a growing network of e-commerce platforms struggling to make payments safe and secure. If not tied to eBay, PayPal may have partnered with Amazon, Alibaba and retail giants like Walmart, but they had either built their own solutions or partnered with non-competitive affiliates.
If separate, it may have also been more influential in the growth of contactless payments. Google and Apple both built out their own systems, and PayPal has been effectively shut out of that market.
Still, PayPal has grown significantly since the break, almost doubling revenue and monthly active users. It has integrated One Touch with over seven million merchants and Venmo continues to attract a younger generation of users.
PayPal has also made significant acquisitions in the past two years, in the form of iZettle and Honey, bought for $2.2 billion and $4 billion, respectively. It has also launched PayPal Credit.
In 2021, it launched a new “Super-app”, combining payments, savings, bills, crypto, shopping, and other financial items into one single experience. The app is part of PayPal’s attempt to branch out from its payments platform and make users more sticky.
We have collected data and statistics on PayPal. Read on below to find out more. Want to dive deeper into the finance app market? Check out our finance app report.
PayPal Key Statistics
- PayPal generated $29.2 billion revenue in 2023, an 7.9% increase year-on-year
- PayPal net profit increased by 75% in 2023 to $4.2 billion
- 25 billion transactions were completed on PayPal in 2023, accounting for $1.52 trillion in transaction volume
- 431 million users and merchants use PayPal
Want to learn more about the finance app industry? In our Finance App report, we cover financials, forecasts, usage, downloads, demographics and benchmarking data.
Finance App Report 2024
PayPal Overview
| Title | Title 2 |
|---|---|
| Launch date | December 1998 |
| HQ | San Jose, California |
| People | Alex Chriss (President, CEO), John Kim (CPO) |
| Business type | Public (NASDAQ: PYPL) |
| Industry | Finance |
PayPal Revenue
PayPal made $29.2 billion revenue in 2023, and has reported an increase in annual revenue every year since 2010.
PayPal revenue 2010 to 2024 ($bn)
PayPal revenue 2010 to 2023 ($bn)
| Year | Revenue ($bn) |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 3.5 |
| 2011 | 4.5 |
| 2012 | 6 |
| 2013 | 6.7 |
| 2014 | 8 |
| 2015 | 9.2 |
| 2016 | 10.8 |
| 2017 | 13 |
| 2018 | 15.4 |
| 2019 | 17.7 |
| 2020 | 21.4 |
| 2021 | 25.3 |
| 2022 | 27.5 |
| 2023 | 29.7 |
Sources: Finance App Report, Company data
PayPal Profit
PayPal reported $4.2 billion net income in 2023, an increase of 75% on the previous year.
PayPal net income 2013 to 2023 ($bn)
| Year | Net income/loss ($bn) |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 0.8 |
| 2013 | 0.9 |
| 2014 | 0.4 |
| 2015 | 1.2 |
| 2016 | 1.4 |
| 2017 | 1.8 |
| 2018 | 2 |
| 2019 | 2.4 |
| 2020 | 4.2 |
| 2021 | 4.1 |
| 2022 | 2.4 |
| 2023 | 4.2 |
Sources: Finance App Report, Company data
PayPal Transactions
25 billion transactions happened on PayPal and its affiliated services, including Venmo.
PayPal transactions 2013 to 2024 (bn)
PayPal transactions 2013 to 2023 (bn)
| Year | Transactions (bn) |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 3.2 |
| 2014 | 3.9 |
| 2015 | 4.9 |
| 2016 | 6.1 |
| 2017 | 7.6 |
| 2018 | 9.9 |
| 2019 | 12.4 |
| 2020 | 15.4 |
| 2021 | 19.3 |
| 2022 | 22.3 |
| 2023 | 25 |
Source: Company data
PayPal Payment Volume
PayPal broke the $1 trillion barrier in payment volume in 2021 for the first time, and that surpassed $1.5 trillion in 2023.
PayPal payment volume 2014 to 2023 ($bn)
| Year | Payment volume ($bn) |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 235 |
| 2015 | 282 |
| 2016 | 355 |
| 2017 | 451 |
| 2018 | 578 |
| 2019 | 712 |
| 2020 | 936 |
| 2021 | 1250 |
| 2022 | 1363 |
| 2023 | 1528 |
Source: Company data
PayPal Users
In 2023, PayPal had 431 million users. This covers users who have made at least one transaction in the year.
PayPal users 2013 to 2023 (mm)
| Year | Users (mm) |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 143 |
| 2014 | 161 |
| 2015 | 179 |
| 2016 | 197 |
| 2017 | 227 |
| 2018 | 267 |
| 2019 | 305 |
| 2020 | 377 |
| 2021 | 426 |
| 2022 | 435 |
| 2023 | 431 |
| 2024 | 429 |
Source: Company data
PayPal Transactions Per Account
The average account transacted 58 times per year on PayPal in 2023, a 13.7% increase on the year prior.
PayPal transactions per account 2013 to 2023
| Year | Transaction per account |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 23 |
| 2014 | 24 |
| 2015 | 27 |
| 2016 | 31 |
| 2017 | 33 |
| 2018 | 36 |
| 2019 | 40 |
| 2020 | 40 |
| 2021 | 45 |
| 2022 | 51 |
| 2023 | 58 |
Source: Company data
PayPal Merchant Accounts
There were 36 million merchant accounts on PayPal in 2023.
PayPal merchant accounts 2015 to 2023 (mm)
| Year | Accounts (mm) |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 13 |
| 2016 | 15 |
| 2017 | 18 |
| 2018 | 21 |
| 2019 | 24 |
| 2020 | 30 |
| 2021 | 33 |
| 2022 | 35 |
| 2023 | 35 |
Source: Company data
PayPal Subsidiaries
PayPal has made several key acquisitions in the past decade, aimed at expanding its financial services for customers and merchants.
PayPal subsidiaries
| Subsidiary | Description |
|---|---|
| Braintree | Provides merchants with an account and gateway to process transactions online |
| Venmo | One of the most popular mobile peer-to-peer payment services in the United States |
| Xoom | Online facilitator of money and mobile transfers across the globe |
| iZettle | Supplier of chip card readers, also provides payments solutions for small businesses |
| Honey | A browser extension that aggregates e-commerce coupons and discounts |
Mobile Payment Global Users
There are over two billion people worldwide that use mobile payments. China is far ahead of other countries in total usage.
Mobile payments users 2015 to 2023 (mm)
Want to learn more? Check out our Finance App Report
PayPal FAQ
How much did eBay pay for PayPal?
eBay acquired PayPal for $1.2 billion in 2002 and spun out the company in 2015
How many online e-commerce users use PayPal?
87.5 percent of online buyers have used PayPal
How many PayPal users have activated One Touch?
80 million PayPal users have activated One Touch payments
What is the average amount in a PayPal account?
The average PayPal user has $485 in their account
What is PayPal’s largest acquisition?
PayPal’s largest acquisition is $4 billion for browser extension Honey (TechCrunch)
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