Not long after activist investor saw the realization of his plan, namely, that eBay should spin off Paypal, he has indicated that Paypal should not fly solo for long. Icahn urges consolidation to compete in the online wallet space, and thinks Paypal could get acquired. Icahn wrote on his website, “In light of the development of strong competition, such as the advent of Apple Pay, the sooner these consolidations take place, the better.”
According to the Clarion-Ledger, Paypal may make an attractive acquisition for Amazon. Currently, Paypal processes $1 for every $6 spent online and collects fees from 150 million users in 200 markets. Before it was spun off from eBay, it was responsible for half of the company’s revenues. Projected sales for Paypal are at 1 billion, and the company’s acquisition of Braintree allowed it to develop the One Touch mobile payment program. The mobile payment market is going to grow aggressively, with $1 billion in mobile payments in 2013, which is expected to increase to $58 billion by 2017. Whoever is going to buy Paypal had better do it quickly.
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