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Four years after leading a charge to make PayPal more nimble by severing it from eBay, investor Carl Icahn is reportedly dissolving his investments in the payment company.
Icahn originally pushed for eBay and PayPal to separate in 2014, arguing eBay's ownership of the payment company made other partners reluctant to collaborate with PayPal out of competitive concerns. Reuters reported the sale of Icahn's stake, as well as dumping his position in AIG.
Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn attends the Leveraged Finance Fights Melanoma charity event in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, May 19, 2015. Lyft Inc. is worth more than its recent $2 billion valuation, based on the $50 billion value of larger car-hailing rival Uber Technologies Inc., Icahn said, after he led a fundraising round at Lyft last week. Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Carl Icahn
Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
eBay's management initially pushed back against Icahn by arguing the auction/payment company tie-up was inseparable and noting eBay's earlier attempt to build its own payment engine failed. eBay also reported PayPal received most of its digital payments volume from eBay purchases. eBay initially purchased PayPal in 2002, beginning a long relationship of intertwined services.
But the companies separated later in 2014, with PayPal's management changing its tune by trumpeting an independent PayPal's ability to quickly add new digital transaction technology and merchant partners to compete with Square, Amazon and Walmart as well as pursue its goal of supporting payments inside physical stores.
That take turned out to be correct, as PayPal has reported strong earnings driven by its expanding Venmo P2P app and its Braintree software development business.
PayPal and eBay had retained a nominal payment processing relationship, though that too has begun to wane, as eBay chose to gradually shift processing to Adyen over the next five years.
Icahn, who dumped his eBay position after the PayPal split, has been gradually selling off his PayPal position more recently while adding to his positions in Herbalife and Hertz. Icahn's investing career dates to the 1980s, when he was known as a "corporate raider."
More recently, Icahn, who has served as an advisor to Donald Trump, has been the subject of controversy for moves in the steel industry around the time of U.S. tariff announcements.
In its latest financial stability report, the Federal Reserve found that asset valuations continue to be elevated and leverage levels remain high, especially among nonbanks like hedge funds and insurance firms.
Federal Reserve Board Gov. Stephen Miran said the growth of stablecoins and cryptocurrencies will likely impact monetary policy and could lead to lower interest rates.
The Spanish bank says it can connect small and medium-size U.S. businesses with local market experts on its newly launched digital platform Navigator Global.
The Pittsburgh-based bank said Friday that it will focus on building 300 branches in high-growth markets by 2030. It also minimized the prospects for another acquisition on the heels of its recent deal for Colorado-based FirstBank.
Consumers' and merchants' penchant for 0% loans are boosting the buy now/pay later lender in its first fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, as gross merchandise volume hit a record.
HoldCo Asset Management drops its pursuit of proxy battles with Columbia Banking System and First Interstate; Cape Cod's Mutual Bancorp prepares to acquire Bluestone Bank; Servbank HoldCo announces plans to acquire IF Bancorp; and more in this week's banking news roundup.
