Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

PayPal Wants to Be a Lot More Than an Online Checkout Button

PayPal Wants to Be a Lot More Than an Online Checkout Button

PayPal aims to be world’s next super app, akin to China’s Alipay and Tencent. ‘I think we have a chance,’ CEO Dan Schulman says in interview. PayPal is 20 years older but 90% smaller than its Chinese rivals and losing its attractiveness to Cryptocurrency holders.
PayPal Holdings Inc. is eyeing life beyond the checkout button, across U.S. and other Western jurisdictions.

In the coming months, the firm is planning to debut a bevy of new services, which could include high-yield savings accounts, check-cashing services and stock-investing capabilities. It’s all being done in the hopes of PayPal becoming the world’s next “super app,” akin to China’s Alipay or WeChat, India’s Paytm or Singapore’s Grab.

The stakes are high: If PayPal pulls it off, the company could become a bigger part of U.S. consumers’ lives than Amazon, Google or Facebook. But, in the U.S., there is no shortage of banking giants and technology firms that have tried and failed to accomplish what PayPal wants to do.

“It’s difficult to become a super app,” PayPal Chief Executive Officer Dan Schulman said in an interview. “I think we have a chance if we execute extremely well against this. But it’s obviously a place that a lot of companies are thinking about as well.”

The idea came to Schulman during a dinner three years ago at his home in Palo Alto, California, close to PayPal’s San Jose headquarters, with Martin Lau, the president of WeChat parent company Tencent Holdings Ltd.

As the two dined, a picture began forming in Schulman’s head: Consumers could come to the PayPal app for more than just paying for things online. It could be their one-stop shop for all things shopping and finance, mirroring the success WeChat has had in China.

“There’s too many apps on all of our phones -- I can’t have an app for my pharmacy, my grocery, for all the different retailers I have,” Schulman said. “I can’t have 40 to 50 different apps on my phone. I can’t remember the passwords, I don’t want to enter in all my info every time. There’s really only eight to 10 apps that we use every single day or every single week. Those apps are going to morph into what we call super apps.”

He ordered his team to begin conducting consumer research.

The feat, if PayPal pulls it off, will not be an easy one. Other U.S. companies have found little success with similar attempts.

Take Uber Technologies Inc. The ride-hailing giant announced in 2019 that it would create a new unit focused on financial services. Less than a year later, the executive tapped to lead the initiative left the company after Uber said it planned to “de-prioritize” several of the unit’s projects, which had included credit cards, a digital wallet and instant payments for drivers.

That contrasts with Grab Holdings Inc., which started as a Southeast Asian ride-hailing company and has since expanded into financial services, payments and food delivery. The company is poised to go public via a U.S. blank-check company that values the company at almost $40 billion.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s experience was more like Uber’s. The largest U.S. bank spent years touting its Chase Pay app, which was supposed to make it easier for people to shop and redeem card rewards. After the effort was slow to take off, the lender discontinued the app and ultimately shelved the entire project, encouraging consumers to instead sign up with its would-be competitor: PayPal.

“It’s going to be hard to create a super app as we know it, like what we’ve seen in China,” Sanjay Sakhrani, an analyst at Keefe Bruyette & Woods, said in an interview. “We have compartmentalized how we consume things. We didn’t have the luxury of finding things in one place like people in emerging markets have had because of the super apps.”

Still, Sakhrani said, some consumers might be open to trying the super-app model, such as the 25% of U.S. adults that struggle to access mainstream financial services.

The grandson of a union organizer in New York’s garment district, Schulman started his career at AT&T as an entry-level employee. He worked his way up to president of the firm’s consumer long-distance business before being asked by Richard Branson to be the founding CEO of Virgin Mobile USA Inc. in 2001. He shepherded the company’s sale to Sprint Nextel Corp. eight years later.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
×