PayPal Buys Online Money Transfer Company Xoom For $890M

PayPal appears to be preparing for its upcoming separation from parent company eBay later this month by buying an online money-transfer company to increase its international and online presence.

The Wall Street Journal reports that PayPal will buy Xoom Corp. for $890 million, giving it an entryway into the remittance market.

Xoom Corp. specializes in allowing people to send money internationally, generally through mobile phone transactions.

The company typically collects a fee of $5 to $10 depending on the transaction size, while also keeping the difference in exchange rates.

PayPal’s move to purchase the San Francisco-based Xoom is just the company’s latest push to capture more mobile business. In the past, PayPal has heavily publicized its peer-to-peer money transfer division Venmo, the WSJ reports.

The company says it plans to keep all 300 current Xoom employees and executives.

The proposed acquisition comes as PayPal prepares to spin off from parent company eBay after 13 years on July 17. eBay acquired PayPal in 2002. The payment processing service represented about 41% of eBay’s net revenue in 2013.

PayPal to Buy Online Money-Transfer Company for $890 Million [The Wall Street Journal]

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