PayPal’s first day as an independent company went very well. Having at last officially split from parent company eBay last Friday, the company’s shares went up 5.4 percent, from $2.08 to $40.47.
Buoyed by the clear sign of investors’ confidence, the company’s CEO, Dan Schulman, offered the clearest signs yet that PayPal aims to be a serious contender in the mPayment space. Speaking to the Associated Press, he asserted that as “the proliferation of mobile devices and the digitization of money explode across the world, we have an opportunity to follow those trends very naturally in the online space and in the app space, and now to the in-store experience.” While there had been strong hints before that the company was moving into this area – such as its deal with partnership with Tyro in Australia, which effectively enabled PayPal mPayments with 14,000 merchants in the country – this is the clearest indication yet of where PayPal is taking aim.
While the mPayment space isn’t the only area that PayPal will be exploring going forward, it is where the company could face the stiffest competition. Apple has given itself a head start with Apple Pay, and as its own financial services expand it too might get interested in, say, international money transfers, an area where PayPal is also trying to expand.
Still, PayPal is in a remarkably strong position due to its brand recognition, which could now bring even further benefits as the company branches off from eBay. In his interview with the AP, Schulman said the split “will allow us the opportunity to partner with a number of companies across the world who before the separation either directly competed with eBay or had a perceived potential conflict with eBay,” which could give it an edge in negotiations with partners that its main rivals don’t have.
Source: CTV News
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