US FinTech company PayPal is buying Japanese payments platform and provider of buy now, pay later solutions Paidy for $2.7 billion, mostly in cash.
The deal, which is expected to close in the last quarter of the year, will help PayPal strengthen its foothold in the Asian market and expand in Japan, the third largest e-commerce market.
"Paidy pioneered buy now, pay later solutions tailored to the Japanese market and quickly grew to become the leading service, developing a sizeable two-sided platform of consumers and merchants," Peter Kenevan, vice president and head of Japan at PayPal, said.
Paidy is just at the beginning of our journey and joining PayPal will accelerate our plans to expand beyond ecommerce and build unique services as the new shopping standard
Riku Sugie,
president and chief executive of Paidy
“Combining Paidy's brand, capabilities and talented team with PayPal's expertise, resources and global scale will create a strong foundation to accelerate our momentum in this strategically important market.”
Founded in 2008, Tokyo-based Paidy has more than 6 million registered users. It enables Japanese shoppers to make online purchases and then pay for them each month in a consolidated bill at a convenience store through bank transfer. Paidy uses proprietary technology to score creditworthiness, underwrite transactions and guarantee payment to merchants.
Paidy claims it drives increased conversion rates, average order values and repeat purchases for merchants.
"There is no better home for Paidy to continue to grow and innovate than PayPal, which has been removing friction from online shopping for more than 20 years," Paidy’s founder and executive chairman Russell Cummer said.
In April, the company launched Paidy Link to allow users to link digital wallets with their Paidy account. PayPal was the first digital wallet partner to integrate with Paidy Link.
"Paidy is just at the beginning of our journey and joining PayPal will accelerate our plans to expand beyond ecommerce and build unique services as the new shopping standard," said Riku Sugie, president and chief executive of Paidy.
The Financial Times reported last month that Paidy was considering an initial public offering as it seeks to tap into the online shopping boom.
Bank of America Securities and Goldman Sachs are acting as financial advisers to PayPal and Paidy, respectively, with regard to the transaction.
Following the acquisition, Paidy will continue to operate its existing business, maintain its brand and support a wide variety of consumer wallets and marketplaces, the entities said.
PayPal added 11.4 million new active accounts in the second quarter to June 30.
But despite adding new customers, its net profit in the three months slumped to $1.2bn, about $346 million less than the same period a year earlier. Revenue during the quarter increased 19 per cent on an annual basis to $6.24bn, missing analyst expectations of $6.27bn.
In March, PayPal bought Israeli cryptocurrency security firm Curv as part of its push into digital tokens.
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UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Need to know
Unlike other mobile wallets and payment apps, a unique feature of eWallet is that there is no need to have a bank account, credit or debit card to do digital payments.
Customers only need a valid Emirates ID and a working UAE mobile number to register for eWallet account.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to invest in gold
Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.
A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Most advisers suggest sticking to “physical” ETFs. These hold actual gold bullion, bars and coins in a vault on investors’ behalf. Others do not hold gold but use derivatives to track the price instead, adding an extra layer of risk. The two biggest physical gold ETFs are SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust.
Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”
Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”
Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”
By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.
You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.
You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.
Who is Ramon Tribulietx?
Born in Spain, Tribulietx took sole charge of Auckland in 2010 and has gone on to lead the club to 14 trophies, including seven successive Oceania Champions League crowns. Has been tipped for the vacant New Zealand national team job following Anthony Hudson's resignation last month. Had previously been considered for the role.
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