Hey, you’ve most probably heard about PayPal and its purpose before. Yeah! It’s an American multinational financial company that allows financial transactions, either by website or phone app. But have you ever thought about its history? Did you know it belongs to the world’s richest person, “Elon Musk?” But in what sense does it belong to Mr. Musk?
I’ve much exciting information to share with you. So, let’s get started.
PayPal was initially known as “Confinity.” It was established in 1998 by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek. The software ran on the PalmPilot. It was a small computer operated for specific applications. X.com was the competitor of Confinity. It was an online bank introduced by Elon Musk in 1999.
In 2002, Confinity and X.com merged and were named “PayPal.” The company went public through an IPO. eBay then bought it for $1.5 Billion. The company allowed users to connect their bank accounts with PayPal accounts. So, payments and transfers were more efficient than money orders or checks. eBay collected fees on certain transactions. It depended upon the amount of transaction, the currency type of transaction, and the nature of the transaction.
In 2015, PayPal became an independent company, but eBay continued its usage. Peter Thiel, Founder and CEO of PayPal, said, “eBay and PayPal have built vibrant user networks on the Internet.”
Today, PayPal is owned by its shareholders. The largest share is held by “Asset Management Giants Vanguard ” as they own 8.4% of the company. Its current worth is 81.40 billion USD. How inspiring! The company established on such a small scale is now a famous worldwide multinational company.
Unfortunately, some countries still lack access to PayPal for many reasons. That’s due to legal restrictions or limited infrastructure to support PayPal operations.
Do you want to know secrets hidden in the history of PayPal? Share your thoughts in the comments so I can come up with exciting information.
