PayPal Holdings, Inc. The company operates as a payment processor for online vendors, auction sites and many other commercial users, for which it charges a fee. Later it was renamed Confinity , [ 9 ] a company which developed security software for hand-held devices. In March , Confinity merged with X. In , PayPal acquired the VeriSign payment solution to provide added security support. By , PayPal had over million active user accounts in markets through 25 different currencies.
The denial of service attacks occurred in December , after PayPal stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks. On 5 December , 13 of the PayPal 14 pleaded guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges related to the attacks. The company continued to build its Merchant Services division, providing e-payments for retailers on eBay.
In , PayPal announced that it would begin moving its business offline so that customers can make payments via PayPal in stores. In , PayPal acquired IronPearl, a Palo Alto startup offering engagement software, [ 39 ] and Braintree , a Chicago -based payment gateway , to further product development and mobile services. It was announced on September 30, , that eBay would spin off PayPal into a separate publicly traded company, a move demanded in by activist hedge fund magnate Carl Icahn.
The spin-off was completed on July 18, PayPal will cease to process card payments for eBay at that time. On July 1, , PayPal announced that it was acquiring digital money transfer company Xoom Corporation. The deal was closed in the fourth quarter of Me", a service that allows users to send a custom link to request funds via text, email, or other messaging platforms. Me was to create a mobile-first user experience that enables faster payment sharing than PayPal's traditional tools.
This was PayPal's largest acquisition until late November and the company claims that it is the in-store expertise and digital marketing strength that will complement its own online and mobile payment services.
