Astonishment! - Ebay is buying Paypal

[Aesthete]

eBay said Monday it will acquire Internet payment service PayPal in an effort to simplify online buying and selling.

The online auction company will swap 0.39 share of its stock for each outstanding share of PayPal. Based on eBay's price Friday, the acquisition is valued at $1.5 billion.

Following the deal, PayPal will continue to operate independently. About 60 percent of PayPal's business currently comes from eBay, and eBay said it will phase out its Billpoint pay system when the PayPal acquisition becomes final.

The deal, which is subject to shareholder and government approval, is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2002.

[Ingridh]

I just finished reading the Perfect Store...about eBay and that doesn't surprise me at all. Ever Since they went public they have to come up with new ways to keep the stockholders happy and generate new income. Ebay doesn't sell anything ...they are a service provider. The seem to buy out anything that takes income away from them. Paypal is cheaper than billpoint tho. I don't know if that will effect pricing. I still love ebay after finishing the book...and seeing what is new. If you go to eBay community you can download and watch the 45 minute address by the CEO at the last eBay live they had a few weeks ago...
Having heard her talk, I am less than inspired,
Really... it is the demand for higher earnings that forces them to buy out similiar industries since they won't raise user fees. I really enjoyed the book. ;-)

[MaureenKennedy]

I was wondering if something like this was going to happen, after I read that Paypal was going to be at Ebay's Anaheim convention in June. Monopoly is buying out all your competitors isn't it?

[DONOTDELETE]

What ebay is really buying is Paypal's customer base. Ebay has us by the you-know-whats and there isn't a darn thing we can do about it. So many people stayed loyal to Paypal when ebay launched Billpoint, and now this. We can all count on the Paypal prices going up. Ebay will continue to squeeze every last cent that it possibly can from sellers. Yes I am glad ebay is there, but they are so greedy.

[DennisZabawa]

ENRON, Arthur Anderson, WORLDCOM, Ebay?