PayPal
What it does
PayPal is a global online payments platform (NASDAQ: PYPL) founded in 1998, originally as Confinity and later merged with Elon Musk's X.com. It serves over 400 million active accounts worldwide. In Nigeria, PayPal has a significant but limited presence — Nigerian users can create accounts and send money internationally (pay for goods, services, subscriptions) but cannot receive payments into Nigerian PayPal accounts. This send-only restriction has been a persistent frustration for Nigerian freelancers and businesses. Despite this, PayPal remains one of the most widely used international payment methods among Nigerians. The company reported $29.8 billion in revenue for 2024.
Digital wallets / e-walletsPayment gatewaysCross-border B2B payments
Known for
- One of the world's largest online payment platforms
- Send-only mode in Nigeria — cannot receive funds to Nigerian accounts
- Essential for Nigerian freelancers paying for international services
- 432 million active accounts globally (2024)
- Originally part of eBay (spun off 2015)
- Xoom international remittance service
Model & industry
Payments-as-a-ServiceMarketplace / Aggregator modelAll / Cross-industry
Products & subsidiaries
PayPal Checkout · Payment ProcessingXoom · RemittancesPayPal Business · Merchant ServicesPayPal Here · POSVenmo · P2P Payments
Acquisitions
- Xoom (2015). Acquired international remittance company Xoom for $890 million.
- iZettle (2018). Acquired European POS company iZettle for $2.2 billion.
- Honey (2019). Acquired shopping and rewards platform Honey for approximately $4 billion.
Initiatives & programs
- Xoom: PayPal's international money transfer service enabling remittances to Nigeria and other countries.
In the News
- 2024-02 · PayPal reports $29.8 billion revenue for 2024, with 432 million active accounts · PayPal Investor Relations