Well, that was awkward. Last week, PayPal agreed to buy iZettle, known as the “Square of Europe,” for $2.2 billion in cash, making the deal the payments company’s largest acquisition to date. Bloomberg, in its write-up of the deal, used a picture of a Square checkout register, rather than iZettle’s copycat product—as Square was quick to note on Twitter.
🤣
— jack (@jack) May 18, 2018
Twitter sparring aside, the deal indeed sets up a showdown between PayPal, worth $90 billion, and Square, worth around $22 billion. With iZettle, PayPal is in a strong position to win over brick-and-mortar businesses in northern Europe and Latin America, where iZettle projects that it will process $6 billion in transactions this year. Square, in contrast, is available in just four markets outside of the U.S.: Australia, Canada, Japan, and the U.K., which launched last year.
In online payments, PayPal’s global reach is central to its value proposition. The company operates in over 200 countries/ regions and supports 25 currencies.
Square, meanwhile, is just beginning its push into e-commerce. Earlier this month, Square acquired Weebly, a website-building service, for $365 million.
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.