PayPal Acquires a European Company for $ 2.2 Billion

PayPal Holdings acquires iZettle, one of Europe's most popular financial starters. The value of the deal is $ 2.2 billion, the companies said.

The agreement will allow PayPal to expand its presence in the global payments and represent the largest acquisition in the history of the San Jose-based company in California.

IZettle is best known for offering a mini business card reader for small businesses that can turn smartphones and tablets into payment registers. This makes it a competitor to the US-based Square, which was founded by Twitter's chief executive, Jack Dorsey.

Zettle, based in Stockholm, already operates in 11 countries and offers other small business services. It has plans at an advanced stage to become a public company.

By joining forces with PayPal, which operates in 200 countries, iZettle will be able to accelerate its international expansion, including in the US, companies said.

Since departing from the eBay online store in 2015, PayPal has been targeting transactions for its parent company to offer a package of digital payment services around the world.

Under the leadership of the CEO Dan Shulman, the company grows aggressively through acquisitions and partnerships with major banks and technology companies, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Apple, and Facebook.

In addition, the deal will help PayPal to offer a better suite of services to its customers.

IZettle CEO Jacob de Greer and the company's management team will continue to lead the it. The company is expected to process payments worth $ 6 billion in 2018 and generate $ 165 million in gross revenue.