PayPal CEO Says $3B/Year Earmarked For Acquisitions

PayPal is planning for further acquisitions, setting aside up to $3 billion a year for future deals.

“We have a healthy balance sheet and we are ready to put it to work to buy more companies,” President and CEO Dan Schulman told Germany’s Handelsblatt business daily in an interview, according to Reuters.

He added that the company is ready to invest up to $3 billion a year on acquisitions that enable it to acquire specific capabilities.

“I wouldn’t rule out that we take on a bigger deal if there’s a good fit for us,” said Schulman.

PayPal has already been busy with acquisitions, marking its biggest buy to date with the May purchase of Swedish payments company iZettle for $2.2 billion in cash.

“iZettle and PayPal are a strategic fit, with a shared mission, values and culture — and complementary product offerings and geographies,” said Schulman in a statement. “In today’s digital world, consumers want to be able to buy when, where and how they want. With nearly half a million merchants on their platform, Jacob de Geer and his team add best-in-class capabilities and talent that will expand PayPal’s market opportunity to be a global one-stop solution for omnichannel commerce.”

And last month, PayPal announced it will buy payments payout platform Hyperwallet for $400 million in cash. The completion of the acquisition, expected in the fourth quarter, will result in PayPal and Braintree, a payment processor owned by PayPal, having more prowess around “localized, multi-currency payment distribution capabilities … with numerous disbursement options, including prepaid card, bank account, debit card, cash pickup, check and PayPal,” according to a company statement.

Later in the same week, PayPal revealed that it is also acquiring Simility, a fraud prevention and risk management platform, as part of an effort to enhance and strengthen its suite of services so it can provide one-stop solutions for merchants.