History of success - soon for PayPal users

[img_assist|nid=8084|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=100] This year PayPal, the San Jose Company that changed the concept of how payments should be made online, celebrates its 10th anniversary.

"We have a tremendous, big, recognized brand with 60 million customers now," said Scott Thompson, 50, PayPal's president since January. "But I like to say we're at the top of the first inning in a nine-inning baseball game," he adds.
Beginning today the company starts a series of video interviews with PayPal's founders and others who played key roles in the company's history. The video is to be shown on a special micro-site. Those interested in the story of PayPal's success may figure out how it all came together hearing the talk of the players.

PayPal was originated ten years ago by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. They established it as a way to transfer money via PDAs. In 2002 the company was acquired by eBay which paid $1.5 billion for it.

"The fundamental problem eBay had was that most sellers on the site didn't have merchant accounts with credit card companies like Visa or American Express," Thompson said of the online auction site, "and here was PayPal with technology that worked but no demand for it and not making any money."

Today there are 7,000 employees in the staff of PayPal working across the globe. In the first quarter this year the company reached $582 million revenue which is up 32 percent against 2007.

PayPal became a worldwide brand soon after being purchased by eBay. It adopted euros and pounds and now it is used in 190 countries and in 17 currencies. There are 60.2 million active accounts with PayPal around the world, a 17% increase above the previous year.

General economic slowdown is not of worry for the current chief, Thompson, as PayPal is a business that depends on e-commerce.

"People always have occasions when they have to buy things," he said. "What happens in a down cycle is that they move more cautiously. If they want the best deal, they move to the Internet, they don't go from mall to mall. What's predictable is that more and more purchases will happen on the Web."