Company profile
SEC EDGAR ↗- Industry
- Services-Business Services, NEC
- Listed
- Nasdaq: PYPL
- Headquarters
- San Jose, CA
- Fiscal year end
- Dec 31
Financials
FY2025- Revenue
- $33.2B
- Net income
- $5.23B
- Total assets
- $80.2B
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Total assets |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $33.2B | $5.23B | $80.2B |
| FY2024 | $31.8B | $4.15B | $78.7B |
| FY2023 | $29.8B | $4.25B | $82.2B |
| FY2022 | $27.5B | $2.42B | $78.6B |
| FY2021 | $25.4B | $4.17B | $75.8B |
| FY2020 | $21.5B | $4.20B | $70.4B |
Reported fiscal years from SEC filings (10-K) — SEC EDGAR ↗. Stratrix is a strategy publication, not a real-time financial data service.
Decisions on record
4 verified Decision Cases on PayPal, and the casebook each one belongs to.
| Fork date | Decision type | What PayPal chose | Where it stood | The story | Casebook |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Distribution Rebellion | Acquire PayPal | eBay completed the PayPal acquisition, valued at approximately $1.5 billion; PayPal continued as an independent brand (2002) | Read the story → | Distribution Rebellion Casebook → |
| 2015 | The Flywheel | Contractual routing lock | $1.68 trillion in total payment volume in 2024 (2024) | Read the story → | The Flywheel Casebook → |
| 2015 | The Counterfactual | Separate PayPal from eBay | eBay-sourced transactions constituted 26% of net revenues in 2015 (2015) | Read the story → | The Counterfactual Casebook → |
| 2022 | The Fall | Abandon account target | down roughly 86% from July 2021 peak, trading near $42 (2026-06) | Read the story → | The Fall Casebook → |
Run one of these yourself
The decisions PayPal faced, as kits you can run.
Each pack takes one of these decisions and gives you the framework, a deck for the room, a model that resolves to one number, and the sourced cases behind it. $499, one-time.
Decision ForksThe Road Not TakenWhat did the decision you did not take actually cost?See the pack →Growth & PortfolioThe Distribution RebellionHow much of the channel's margin do you actually keep?See the pack →Growth & PortfolioThe FlywheelWhat does your loop actually return, and how much of it is left?See the pack →
The analyses
The Counterfactual · Decision Forks
PayPal Was Set Free From eBay. Two Years Later, eBay Walked.
The split is told as a liberation. But eBay still supplied 26% of PayPal's net revenue the year they parted - and 2.5 years later, eBay replaced PayPal with Adyen. Freedom cost PayPal its biggest customer.
7 min
The Distribution Rebellion · Boundaries of the Firm
PayPal Paid $20 a Signup to Grow Inside eBay — Until eBay Paid $1.5 Billion to Own It
PayPal built its payment button inside eBay without permission, then paid $20 per new signup and $20 per referral to grow too fast to stop. By 2002 eBay surrendered, paying $1.5 billion in stock to own the layer it couldn't shake off.
7 min
The Flywheel · Moat & Competition
For Five Years After the Split, eBay Still Routed 80% of Its Sales Through PayPal
The story goes that the 2015 spinoff liberated PayPal's flywheel. But eBay agreed to keep routing ~80% of its sales through PayPal for five years, with penalties for breaking ranks. The 'clean break' was a leash.
8 min
The Fall · Crisis & Reinvention
PayPal's Stock Fell 86% While Revenue Climbed to $31.8B — the Growth Story Died First
PayPal's stock fell ~86% from its July 2021 peak while net revenue rose every year to $31.8B. The crash wasn't an operating collapse - it was the death of a growth narrative, and Venmo can't yet revive it.
7 min
Tools to try
- Ansoff move finderFramework: Ansoff Matrix
- Business model canvas builderFramework: Business Model Canvas
- Change readiness checkFramework: Kotter's 8-Step Change Model
- Five Forces scorerFramework: Porter's Five Forces
- SMART goal builderFramework: SMART Goals
- SWOT builderFramework: SWOT Analysis
More from Stratrix
The Business Model Wizard
Make the seven choices that define your model, test your numbers against real companies, and meet the rival AI would build against you.
Free · about twelve minutesBuild your Model Thesis →Test a decision, free
Set a live decision against the companies that made it before you.
AcquisitionsThe Distance TestDivestituresThe Divestiture TestDiversificationThe Diversification TestMake or buyThe Make-or-Buy TestStratrix Team
Every Casebook, three Strategy Packs a seat each year and Ask Stratrix, for teams that face these decisions all year.
$1,999 a year · $499 a seatWhat is included →New analyses, by email
The defining moves in business, and what they teach, as they publish.