Dozens of Internet startups launched in the last days of the 20th century Internet boom, vowing to revolutionize the way we pay for things. PayPal alone has emerged as the dominant brand in online payments large and small. The product of a 2000 merger between two long-forgotten online startups — Confinity and X.com, for the trivia buffs out there — PayPal owes its early success to an alliance and later a merger with another Internet revolutionary, eBay Inc.
PayPal lets people and institutions transfer funds via computer or handheld devices straight from the customer’s bank account, credit card or funds held in a PayPal account. PayPal makes its money by fees on payment transactions, foreign exchange and withdrawals from foreign bank accounts. It also charges fees on customer balances and PayPal-branded credit and debit cards. Today, PayPal has about 80 million users in 190 markets and 24 currencies and accounts for more than half of its parent’s total payment volume. The main focus of its growth today is with customers outside of eBay.
