PayPal chomps up money-moving biz Xoom ahead of eBay split

PayPal has scooped up digital money transfer provider Xoom for $890m (£570m), ahead of its split with eBay later this month.

As part of its "uncoupling" with the online tat bazaar, PayPal will start out with $6bn (£3.9bn) in cash – which means more acquisitions could be on the cards.

Dan Schulman, president of PayPal, said the move will help the company expand into the international money transfer market.

"Acquiring Xoom allows PayPal to offer a broader range of services to our global customer base, increase customer engagement and enter an important and growing adjacent marketplace," he said.

"Xoom’s presence in 37 countries – in particular, Mexico, India, the Philippines, China and Brazil – will help us accelerate our expansion in these important markets," he added.

PayPal currently has 68 million customers in the US, while Xoom has 1.3 million customers.

The announcement comes as PayPal is preparing its formal split from parent eBay on 17 July. eBay has already slimmed down ahead of its separation with PayPal, having shed thousands of employees earlier this year.

John Kunze, chief exec of Xoom, said the deal will help it expand into "unserved geographies." ®