PayPal Carves Niche In OnlinePayments

SAN JOSE, Calif. - (01/23/06) -- PayPal, the alternative to payingwith plastic online, topped $1 billion in revenue for the firsttime in 2005, up 47% from the year before, parent company eBay Inc.reported last week. There were 96.2 million consumers with PayPalaccounts at year-end, up 51% from 63.8 million at the end of 2004.Over 28 million of those accountholders made PayPal transactions inthe last three months of 2005. The vision for PayPal is to becomethe global online payment standard, Margaret Whitman, eBaypresident and CEO, told analysts in a conference call last week.Consumers made $8.1 billion worth of purchases with PayPal in thefourth quarter of 2005, up 45% from $5.6 billion in the fourthquarter of 2004. Of those fourth quarter purchases, 69% representedpurchases through eBay online auction sites, down slightly from 71%in the fourth quarter of 2004. Online merchants that beganaccepting PayPal payments in the fourth quarter included Dell,Tower Records, Sharper Image, ESPN and the United Way.