SAN FRANCISCO: PayPal, a subsidiary of eBay, has purchased international money-sending service Xoom for $890 million
Online payments titan PayPal will pay $25 per share of Xoom in what amounts to a premium of 32 percent over the stock’s average price over the past three months. PayPal touted Xoom as a leading service for letting people in the United States pay bills or send money to family members or friends in other countries using mobile phones, tablets or computers.
“Expanding into international money transfer and remittances aligns with our strategic vision to democratize the movement and management of money,” PayPal president Dan Schulman said.
Acquiring Xoom will let PayPal broaden its array of services and expand in important markets, particularly China, Brazil, India, Mexico and the Philippines, according to Schulman. Xoom has a presence in 37 countries.
eBay acquired PayPal in 2002 for roughly $1.5 billion in shares, integrating the payment service that had already been widely used for online auctions. PayPal over the years has expanded beyond a simple payment mechanism for eBay auctions.
In 2014, PayPal processed $235 billion in payments and handled one billion mobile transactions. It had revenues last year of $8 billion and worked with 10 million merchants worldwide.
