PayPal, Inc., the electronic payment subsidiary of the eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), is about to get in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s face in the payments industry with the acquisition of Paydiant, Inc.
Dan Schulman, president and CEO designee of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY)’s PayPal, Inc. has just revealed that his firm has agreed to buy Paydiant, Inc. Paydiant has also confirmed the plan to be acquired.
As we all know, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is spearheading its own push into the mobile payments space with Apple Pay. The platform and payments system was unveiled by the iPhone maker in October last year.
Though perhaps the biggest player in the online payments industry, eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY)’s PayPal needs a very firm strategy to combat Apple Pay which is gaining traction in the mobile payments space. This is where Paydiant comes in.
Paydiant licenses its technology to other businesses to make their own mobile payment applications. Mobile payment apps from Subway, Harris Teeter and Capital One use the technology. However, the most distinguished group to use the Paydiant system is the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) group which uses the technology for their CurrentC mobile payments solution.
MCX’s CurrentC is backed by a group comprised of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD) and Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY), among others.
In other words, Paydiant already has big name retailers on its side. One of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s biggest competitors in payments, it seems, has gotten much stronger.
According to a report from Re/code, eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY)’s subsidiary will be paying about $280 million for Paydiant, Inc. In the process, it’s expected to gain ground in beating the nascent Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) mobile payments system and give businesses, more specifically retailers, more choices for mobile payments.
Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP owned about 46.27 million eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) shares by the end of 2014. Icahn is the primary force behind the company’s decision to spin off PayPal, Inc. by the end of the year.
Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management ended 2014 with about 10.76 million Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares. Icahn Capital is the largest institutional investor that is long Apple, ending last year with about 52.76 million shares in the iPhone maker.
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