PayPal President David Marcus Leaves for Facebook Job

PayPal President David Marcus is leaving the eBay unit to lead Facebook's messaging products.

Under Marcus' leadership, PayPal made strides to improve relations with developers and startups, a move fueled by many acquisitions, including the $800 million purchase of Braintree, which Marcus said would place PayPal at the "heart" of disruption.

"As the head of PayPal, David helped make a great business better, reinvigorating product design and innovation and energizing the team to deliver compelling consumer experiences,” says eBay president and CEO John Donahoe in a June 9 press release.

Marcus joined PayPal in 2011 when it purchased Zong, a mobile payments company Marcus founded. After the acquisition, Marcus became vice president of mobile at PayPal before being named president in 2012, replacing Scott Thompson.

“An entrepreneur at heart, David has made a career decision to focus on what he loves most – leading smaller teams to create great product experiences,” Donahoe says in the release. “We wish him well. He leaves behind a strong leadership team, committed to not skipping a beat on executing our plans, scaling product innovation and driving global growth.”

Under Marcus, PayPal's developments included in-app payments, Bluetooth Low Energy beacons and the PayPal Here mobile card reader. PayPal also began its PayPal Galactic initiative last year, with the goal of becoming a preferred payment method for space tourists.