PayPal Interesting Key Facts
- PayPal was first established as Confinity in 1998 by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek. It was a company that developed security software for hand held devices. Failing with that venture, the founders decided to switched into digital wallet.
- Confinity converged with X.com, an online financial services company wherein Elon Musk was a cofounder of. Thus, PayPal was born.
- Elon Musk was optimistic about Confinity’s potential to be a successful electronic payment system. He then proceeded to terminate all of X.com’s internet banking operations and focus on PayPal.
- In 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock of which Elon Musk was the largest shareholder with 11.72% of shares and received $175.8 million.
- Elon Musk used the PayPal money to build SpaceX.
- After eBay bought PayPal. A group was formed by former PayPal employees and founders - The PayPal Mafia.
- Members of this group would then create and develop other technologies and companies such as Tesla Inc, Linkedin, Affirm, Palantil Technologies, YouTube, Kiva, Slide, SpaceX, Square, Yammer and Yelp.
- The members of the PayPal Mafia are considered by many as the main people who put Silicon Valley in the map to be one of the greatest technology hubs in the world.
- PayPal was ranked 8th as America’s best employers in 2021.
- PayPal is the most popular online payment system used in the United States.
Sources: Forbes, Tech Republic, eCommerceDB, WSJ, The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley
PayPal: Company Overview (About)
PayPal, the first name that comes in mind when talking about payment processors! Also an amazing company at whose stats we're going to check out now.
Snatch look:
We guarantee that you'll learn lots of new stuff about PayPal in this post.
How much of this did you already know about PayPal?
Sources: SEC, PayPal, Google Finance
What is PayPal’s revenue?
As of 2021, PayPal has a revenue of $25.37 billion with year over year growth of 18.26%.
Seeing $25.87 billion is already impressive. Though, 18.26% more than last year is absolutely incredible! The same idea repeats itself though in the past years.
The table shows us a more detailed look.
Check out how at PayPal, in every year from 2007 there was an at least 14% increase in revenue.
The greatest Y/Y revenue change was in 2008, at the perfect number of 33.33% than last year's revenue.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Operating Expense Through the years
As of 2021, PayPal has an operating expense of $7.61 billion with year over year growth of 15.27%. The table shows us a more detailed look.
We've been able to find 100% relevant data about PayPal's operating expense from 2017 to 2021.
While PayPal's operating expense may seem like a lot, we have to keep in mind the revenue it also generates.
Speaking of which, let's see what the profits look like at PayPal.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Profit Through the Years
As of 2021, PayPal has a profit of $4.17 billion with year over year growth of -0.79% decrease.
Note how there's a little line that goes backwards in 2014 when compared to the previous years.
That only shows how PayPal is a normal business, like any other, having both better and worse days. Though, that didn't stop PayPal to make a fortune in 2015!
The table shows us a more detailed look from year to year.
The table above shows exactly what we previously mentioned. Look at 2013-2015 and see how PayPal went from -56.13% in profit to a 193.56% increase.
That's just beautiful!
Source: Google Finance
What is PayPal’s market cap?
Paypal has a market capitalization of $78.60 in 2022, a decrease of $142 billion from 2021.
See how PayPal's highest market cap was in 2020, at $274.41 billion. Then, 2021 was also a pretty good year, but things went a bit downhill in 2022.
Let's check out this table for a better understanding.
While 2020 was PayPal's best year for market capitalization, only time can tell if that will have been the all time high market cap or not.
Speaking of which, as soon as new data comes out, we'll make sure to update the graphics and the tables so as to show you the latest information.
PayPal Acquisitions
PayPal has 26 acquisitions throughout the years from 2008 until their latest acquisition last September 2021.
PayPal is one huge company, so it's pretty expectable for it to have acquired lots of companies. As you can see, 26 acquired companies can make a long list.
But as payment processing is a large domain, and since PayPal was started in 1999, you would expect a lot of acquisitions from a company at PayPal's level.
Sources: Reuters 1, Reuters 2, Finovative, WSJ, The Verge, Forbes 1, Forbes 2, Techcrunch 1, Techcrunch 2, Techcrunch 3, Techcrunch 4, Techcrunch 5, Techcrunch 6, Techcrunch 7, Techcrunch 8, NewsCenter, Yahoo Finance, BBC, Market Watch, Paypal 1, Paypal 2, Paypal 3, Venture Beat, Chargehound
PayPal Investments
PayPal had made 29 investments so far. Out of those 29, they are the lead investors of 9 investments.
Below are the latest investments that Paypal has made over the years.
The table above shows which organization is a lead investor, as well as those who are not.
Have a look at that interesting Meta investment in 2022, with $10 billion being raised at PayPal. It's also quite recent!
Source: Crunchbase
PayPal Funding History
PayPal has 5 funding rounds throughout the years. The total funding amount was $216 million with the last funding happened in 2001.
The table above shows you the necessary information to be known about PayPal's five fundings.
As PayPal became so successful, you can observe how the last funding took place in 2001. Definitely a long time ago.
Source: Crunchbase
How many people work at PayPal through the years?
Most recent data shows that there were 31,000 employees at PayPal in 2022.
It is pretty understandable why a company like PayPal has so many employees. There are many sectors to be taken care of, and there is a lot to take care of.
Yet again, note how every year at PayPal had the numbers going up, including the amount of employees. New years, more people working for the company.
See how 9 years can change the amount of people working for PayPal. The number is over double what it was in 2013!
Sources: Statista, Linkedin, Forbes
How Many Active Users Does PayPal Have?
As of the first quarter of 2022, PayPal had 429 million users. By now, the number has definitely gone up.
If we zoom into the 2000s, you can see how there was a pretty big peak in 2005, followed by a little fall of users.
Though, ever since 2008, the number has only gone up, and it seems to keep on growing with each new year.
Even with that being said, you can see how 2021-2022 didn't have such an immense change in the amount of PayPal users.
There's only 1 million users separating the two previously-mentioned years.
Source: GlobalData
PayPal active users gender distribution
In 2023, it's estimated that 61.9% of PayPal's users are males, and 38.1% of the users to be females.
Note: These numbers are estimation from Similarweb and unofficial.
Source: Similarweb
PayPal active users age distribution
PayPal's most popular user age group is the 25-34 group, with almost 28% of the total users. Then, there's the 18-24 age group, covering 21.09% of the total users.
Note: These numbers are estimation from Similarweb and unofficial.
The 35-44 age group is not that far away from the second most popular one, as it covers 19.56% of PayPal's users.
For a better view and understanding, this table shows you the precise numbers for each age bracket of people that are on PayPal.
Source: Similarweb
What is the Total Payment Volume of PayPal?
A recent PayPal report shows that as of Q3 2022, PayPal has a $337 billion in total payment volume.
PayPal has a total payment volume of $1.25 trillion in 2021 with 29.80% year over year growth.
It's absolutely impressive to look at the graph above and see how the line in 2021 is longer than any other one above.
That doesn't mean that, for eaxmple, 2003 was a slower year.
Remember that 2003 was still in the early days of the internet, and $12.2 billion moving in through PayPal was absolutely massive.
But then again, if we look at how much 2021's TPV was, it's just incredible to think of how much eMoney there is, and how much PayPal handles.
Frankly, PayPal's TPV table shows numbers that are also a pretty good reference point for how relevant the internet is in our world.
Source: GlobalData, Paypal 1, Paypal 2, Paypal 3, Paypal 4, Paypal 5, Paypal 6, Paypal 7
Which industries are using PayPal Enterprise the most?
PayPal Enterprise is a function wherein the company helps businesses find active buyers, increase conversion across channels, and scale into new markets. Payments are discussed through PayPal sales team.
The table below shows us which industries are using PayPal Enterprise the most.
Thee Retail industry covers 24.80% of PayPal's usage. Then, there are the Professional Services, with 15.50%.
Looking at the table above and seeing all these different industries, you can see how there are really no boundaries for PayPal.
There's money to be made in both Retail, Media, and even Non Profit, so be assured that PayPal is always there as a payment processor.
Sources: AppsRunTheWorld, Paypal
PayPal Enterprise customers by country
Paypal Enterprise's most customers are from the United States, with 84.90% of the total users.
Next after the big player, there's the United Kingdom, with (only) 6.40% of the pie.
Followed by which, there are Canada, France, and Australia on the list. They cover from 1 to 3% of the users.
Sources: AppsRunTheWorld, Paypal
PayPal's Market Share (Online Payment Industry)?
As of 2022, PayPal has a market share of 52.45% in the online payment industry.
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This really means that PayPal is pretty much over 50% of the online payment industry. As we've previously seen from PayPal's revenue and profits, this is a very large industry.
Therefore, seeing how PayPal is literally over half of the industry, we can try only and understand how big PayPal really is when it comes down to ePayments.
Source: enlyft
How does PayPal make money?
PayPal has a three-phase business model.
In phase 1, payment volumes are largely coming from eBay. Individuals and businesses without credit cards were very attracted to the system as they can have transactions in eBay without relying on credit cards.
In Phase 2, PayPal planned to earn interest through funds on papal accounts. However, most of the PayPal users would immediately withdrew their money.
To solve this problem, PayPal catered more to business accounts. PayPal started relying on earnings from its service charges rather on the interests from deposited funds.
In Phase 3, after increasing its domestic and international penetration on eBay, PayPal started their off-eBay strategy by adding users across multiple platforms, meaning they will expand more on different platforms other than eBay.
In 2003, Merchant Services was created within PayPal. This provided payment solutions to small and large e-commerce businesses outside eBay.
To sum it up, PayPal earns from its transaction fees, subscription fees for its premium features mainly offered to businesses, sales of card readers, referral fees on cashback rewards, interest on cash advance, business loans, interchange fees, and more.
Sources: Linkedin, Wall Street Folly
How much time do people spend on PayPal?
As of November 2022, the average time spent using PayPal is 00:04:06.
How much time do you spend using PayPal?
Source: Similarweb
Where is PayPal available (countries)?
PayPal is available in 200 countries/regions, which makes it available worldwide.
Source: PayPal
How many currencies does PayPal support?
As of November 2022, PayPal supports 25 currencies. Below is a list of them:
Source: PayPal
Which countries visit PayPal the most?
The United States is PayPal's #1 visitor, with 39.41% of the total PayPal users.
After the US, Germany is the most popular country for PayPal, with 15.72% of the total total users. The table below lists the most popular countries:
Source: Similarweb
PayPal Mobile App Statistics: Android vs iOS
These are the key stats and key info on PayPal mobile app on Android as of October 2022:
These are the key stats and key info on PayPal mobile app on iOS as of October 2022:
Source: Google Play, Apple Store
PayPal Financials
The following subsections provides us with a detailed look on PayPal financials through the years. As of 2021, PayPal has a net profit margin of 16.43 with 4.6 earnings per share.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Net Profit Margin Through the Years
As of 2021, PayPal has a net profit margin of 16.43 with year over year growth of -16.13% decrease. The table shows us a more detailed look.
See how PayPal's net profit margin is versatile throughout these years. It doesn't increase by a lot, and yet, it also doesn't decrease by a lot.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Earnings per Share Through the Years
As of 2021, PayPal has earnings per share of 4.60 with year over year growth of 18.56%. The table shows us a more detailed look.
When it comes down to PayPal's earnings per share, you can see how every year from 2017 to 2020 had an at least 25% increase.
Then, in 2021, there was an almost 19% increase from last year.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal EBITDA Through the Years
If we're talking about financial details, we obviously have to take EBITDA in account. The table below shows PayPal's EBITDA situation for 2017-2021.
Observe how PayPal's 2017-2018 EBITDA didn't change that much. After 2018, the numbers went at least 20% higher with each new year until 2022.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Effective Tax Rate Through the Years
PaypPal's average effective tax rate throughout 2017-2021 was of 13.03%.
The table below shows the precise data.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Cash and Short-Term Investments Through the Years
There are lots of investments going on at PayPal. See how the numbers change in 2017-2021 in the table below:
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Total Assets Through the Years
PayPal had assets worth $75.80 billion in 2021.
You would expect a company like PayPal to have some pricy assets - and you would be right. With each new year, the number goes higher than before.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Total Liabilities Through the Years
The liabilities at PayPal were of $54.08 billion in 2021, increased by 7.47% than the ones from 2020.
The data below shows PayPal's 2017-2021 liabilities.
With assets come liabilities as well, and you can't do much to lower them if you want to increase assets and equity.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Total Equity Through the Years
The total equity at PayPal was of $21.73 billion in 2021.
See how equity stayed almost the same in 2017 and 2018. This number doesn't change as drastically as others from before throughout the years.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Shares Outstanding Through the Years
PayPal's shares outstanding in 2021 were of 1.17 billion. In fact, they were the almost the same ever since 2017!
The only different year was 2017, when they used to be 1.2 billion. Though, after that date to 2021, the number was set at 1.17 billion.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Price-to-Book Through the Years
Over the course of 2017-2021, PayPal's average price to book was of 5.326.
As you can note from the table above, 2018 was at the highest, with 6.1.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Return on Assets Through the Years
The return on assets at PayPal was of 3.69% in 2021, as that is the most recent data.
It's also worth pointing out that 2017 had the highest return on assets, but definitely not by much, since it was at 3.72%.
Though, in business, every penny can make a difference. And then, remember, at PayPal it's really more than just about pennies!
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Return on Capital Through the Years
PayPal's return on capital was of 8.80% in 2021.
Previous years show that PayPal's return on capital from 2017-2021 always used to be of at least 8%.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Cash From Operations Through the Years
PayPal's cash from operations was of $6.34 billion in 2021, making it 8.30% higher than 2020's.
See how there was an over -25% decrease in 2019.
Though, cash from operations went up after that! With 43.80% in 2020, and 8.30% in 2021, as said before.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Cash From Investing Through the Years
As for cash from investing, PayPal had the number of -$5.49 billion in 2021, with a 66.18% increase from 2020.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Cash From Financing Through the Years
Regarding cash from financing at PayPal, 2021 is the most recent report, showing -764 million.
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Net Change in Cash Through the Years
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Free Cash Flow Through the Years
Source: Google Finance
PayPal Traffic Summary Overview
Source: HypeStat
PayPal Website Traffic Sources
PayPal's most traffic sources come from Direct Sources, as well as Referral Sources.
Let's look at all of them in the table below:
Source: HypeStat
PayPal Traffic Source: Desktop vs Mobile
- 12.67% of the users visit the website through desktop devices
- 87.33% of the users visit the website through mobile devices
Most PayPal users like to browse the app on their phone or table.
In case you're a PayPal use, ow about you? What's your favourite way to use PayPal?
Source: HypeStat
