PayPal

PayPal runs an online payment service for consumers and merchants. Its roots go back to 1998, when Peter Thiel, Max Levchin and others founded Confinity, which merged with Elon Musk's X.com. The service took the PayPal name in 2001. eBay bought it in 2002, and it became independent again in 2015.

People use PayPal to pay for online purchases, send money to friends and receive payments for work. Merchants add PayPal as a checkout option. Buyer protection rules cover disputed purchases.

The company also owns Venmo, a peer-to-peer payment app popular in the United States, and Braintree, which processes cards for merchants. Other products include PayPal Credit and a stablecoin called PYUSD. The headquarters is in San Jose, California. Alex Chriss became chief executive in 2023. The company processes payments in many currencies and operates in more than 200 markets. It also offers pay-later products and a debit card for people with a balance in their account.