• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechPayPal Holdings

Here’s Why PayPal Just Added A Record Number Of New Users

By
Leena Rao
Leena Rao
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Leena Rao
Leena Rao
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 27, 2016, 7:41 PM ET
Paypal CEO Dan Schulman takes part in the company's relisting on the Nasdaq in New York
Paypal CEO Dan Schulman at the company's relisting on the Nasdaq in New York, July 20, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson Photograph by Lucas Jackson — Reuters

PayPal added a record number of new users in the fourth quarter, the payments giant revealed as part of its latest quarterly earnings Wednesday afternoon. In an earnings call with analysts, CEO Dan Schulman shared that the company is gaining momentum and is benefitting from the shift by shoppers to mobile devices.

PayPal added 6.6 million new accounts in the fourth quarter, up from an average of 4 million new accounts per quarter in the recent past, explained Schulman. With the new additions, PayPal now has 179 million active accounts, up from 173 million in the previous quarter.

The increased growth is a sign that PayPal is succeeding as a separate company from marketplace eBay, which the payments company spun off from in 2015.

“It’s becoming increasingly evident that payments is a hard business to crack,” Schulman said. “While many others are attempting to play in this space, PayPal continues to gain market share.”

PayPal added 1.6 million accounts through its $890 million acquisition of Xoom, which lets people send money, pay bills and reload mobile phones from the United States to 37 countries. Beyond Xoom, Schulman also explained that the company’s isn’t losing as many users as before without giving any further details about the numbers of defectors.

Lastly, he said that the rise in payments from mobile devices and the company’s new technologies like One Touch which lets users log in once with PayPal to pay for goods when shopping online and on their mobile devices, is helping attract more users In the fourth quarter, PayPal processed $20 billion in mobile payment volume, up 45% from the same quarter in 2014.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter

Schulman said that more than 10 million people have enabled the universal digital payments service, signaling more people are buying items using their mobile phones. More than 1 million merchants worldwide let shoppers pay with OneTouch, and PayPal is processing millions of One Touch transactions each month. And there’s the fast growing mobile payments app Venmo, which is popular with millennials.

For more on PayPal, watch this:

Payments is a really hard business, Schulman explained, but the company has been able to succeed because it has a “comprehensive” group of services, including merchant and consumer offerings. “Our biggest competition is ability to execute on our game plan.”

PayPal’s shares (PYPL) were up 4% in after hours trading to $33 per share.

About the Author
By Leena Rao
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Success
In 2026, many employers are ditching merit-based pay bumps in favor of ‘peanut butter raises’
By Emma BurleighFebruary 2, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Trump may have shot himself in the foot at the Fed, as Powell could stay on while Miran resigns from White House post
By Eleanor PringleFebruary 4, 2026
12 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Investing
Tech stocks go into free fall as it dawns on traders that AI has the ability to cut revenues across the board
By Jim EdwardsFebruary 4, 2026
16 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Cybersecurity
Top AI leaders are begging people not to use Moltbook, a social media platform for AI agents: It’s a ‘disaster waiting to happen’
By Eva RoytburgFebruary 2, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
North America
Gates Foundation doubles down on foreign aid as U.S. government largely withdraws
By Thalia Beaty and The Associated PressFebruary 3, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Politics
Meet the Palm Beach billionaire who paid $2 million for a private White House visit with Trump
By Tristan BoveFebruary 3, 2026
1 day ago

Latest in Tech

A man in a suit wearing glasses.
Big TechAlphabet
Alphabet plans to double capex spending to a possible $185 billion—but it’s keeping CEO Sundar Pichai up at night
By Amanda GerutFebruary 4, 2026
2 hours ago
electricity
EnvironmentElectricity
Over a million people are losing power during a freezing snowstorm while data centers nearby guzzle electricity
By Nikki Luke, Conor Harrison and The ConversationFebruary 4, 2026
6 hours ago
Phone displaying quantum computing company IonQ's logo.
Big Techquantum computing
IonQ, the biggest quantum computing company on the stock market, disputes short-seller claims it failed to disclose holes in its revenue
By Jeremy Kahn and Jim EdwardsFebruary 4, 2026
6 hours ago
altman
Startups & VentureMarkets
Scott Galloway predicts OpenAI could pull its IPO amid AI ‘vibe shift’ as investors ‘gag’ on Trump proximity, questionable revenue
By Nick LichtenbergFebruary 4, 2026
6 hours ago
AILayoffs
Pinterest cracks down on dissent, fires engineers for an internal layoff tool as AI shake-ups keep employees on edge and in line
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezFebruary 4, 2026
6 hours ago
McNuggets
Travel & LeisureMcDonald's
McDonald’s wants you to eat caviar McNuggets this Valentine’s Day
By Dee-Ann Durbin and The Associated PressFebruary 4, 2026
6 hours ago