PayPal Will Go Public As PYPL

For PayPal, everything old is new again. And soon tradable on the stock market under its old symbol.

The online payments company announced yesterday (May 14) that, beginning in the third quarter of 2015, it will be publicly traded on NASDAQ as PYPL. PayPal has been an available stock commodity before, but not since 2002 — before the company was acquired by eBay. Its return to independence has been in the works since PayPal and eBay first announced in September that they were parting ways as two independent companies.

“I’m honored and thrilled that PayPal is returning to its roots as an independent company,” PayPal President and CEO designee Dan Schulman, wrote on the company’s blog. “In the second half of 2015 we’ll once again be publicly traded on NASDAQ with our original stock ticker symbol PYPL. This is a meaningful symbol for the company because it represents our unbroken commitment to the spirit of the original vision that sparked the launch of PayPal 17 years ago.”

Schulman shared PayPal’s vision of creating a world “in which all commerce is digital commerce,” in a way that makes PayPal a part of consumers’ everyday lives by “making it faster, simpler, and safer to manage and move money.” He also focused his comments toward PayPal’s philosophy and how it intends to build on its consumer base of 165 million across 200 countries.

“We’ll deliver capabilities, services, and platforms that are technology and payment agnostic, so that our solutions work the way our customers want and need them to,” he wrote. “We’ll provide tools that enable developers and innovators to build next generation apps and invent new business models. We’ll be the comprehensive solution partner that merchants around the world rely on to thrive as they reach for their own vision of success.”

He also shared his thoughts on the future of PayPal as it moves toward becoming a publicly traded company.

“As we take this step to become an independent company publicly traded under the symbol PYPL once again, we are proud of our history of innovation and success and we are optimistic about the limitless possibilities that lie ahead. There is much more news to come and we’ll continue to update you on important developments as we proceed toward separation. We look forward to continuing our journey as we strive to fulfill our founders’ vision to give people around the world a simpler, better way to control their money than they ever had before,” Schulman wrote.

Also announced yesterday in relation to the eBay/PayPal split was news from eBay about its board of directors. Following separation, the eBay Board of Directors will include: Fred Anderson (director since July 2003), Edward Barnholt (director since April 2005), Anthony Bates (director since March 2015), Bonnie Hammer (director since January 2015), Kathleen Mitic (director since September 2011), Pierre Omidyar (founded eBay as a sole proprietorship in September 1995), Bob Swan (current eBay CFO), Perry Traquina (director since January 2015) and Devin Wenig (president and CEO-designee of eBay).

“eBay Inc. has long benefitted from the strong stewardship of world-class directors. As we position eBay and PayPal to compete in their respective commerce and payments markets as standalone companies, we have created two outstanding boards to support Devin and Dan and their respective management teams. We are confident that we have the right combination of skills and expertise on each board to ensure that eBay and PayPal drive lasting value for the shareholders, customers and employees of both companies,”  eBay’s current President and CEO John Donahoe wrote in a news release.

The full board of PayPal was also announced yesterday, which will include Donahoe, who will serve as Chairman of PayPal’s Board following the split. The rest of the PayPal board will include: Jonathan Christodoro (eBay director since March 2015), Scott Cook (eBay director since June 1998), David Dorman (eBay director since June 2014), Gail McGovern (eBay director since March 2015), David Moffett (eBay director since July 2007), Omidyar, Schulman and Frank Yeary (eBay director since January 2015).