PayPal Holdings 10-K 2023-12-31

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023.

OR

For the transition period from to .

Commission file number 001-36859

PayPal Holdings, Inc.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

(408) 967-1000

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☒

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

As of June 30, 2023, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $73.4 billion based on the closing sale price as reported on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

As of February 1, 2024, there were 1,071,741,864 shares of common stock outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for its 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated herein by reference in Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the extent stated herein. Such proxy statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2023.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Trademarks, Trade Names and Service Marks

PayPal owns or has rights to use the trademarks, service marks, and trade names that it uses in conjunction with the operation of its business. Some of the more important trademarks that PayPal owns or has rights to use that appear in this Annual Report on Form 10-K include: PayPal®, PayPal Credit®, Braintree, Venmo, Xoom, Zettle, Hyperwallet, Honey, and Paidy, which may be registered or trademarked in the United States and other jurisdictions. PayPal’s rights to some of these trademarks may be limited to select markets. This report may contain additional trade names and trademarks of other companies. The use or display of other companies’ trade names or trademarks does not imply our endorsement or sponsorship of, or a relationship with these companies.

PART I

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Form 10-K”) contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements that involve expectations, plans or intentions (such as those relating to future business, future results of operations or financial condition, new or planned features or services, mergers or acquisitions, or management strategies). These forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “may,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “intend,” "continue," “strategy,” “future,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “project,” “forecast,” and other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, those discussed in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of this Form 10-K, as well as in our consolidated financial statements, related notes, and the other information appearing in this report and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). We do not intend, and undertake no obligation except as required by law, to update any of our forward-looking statements after the date of this report to reflect actual results, new information, or future events or circumstances. Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. You should read the information in this report in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes that appear in this report.

OVERVIEW

PayPal Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware in January 2015 and is a leading technology platform that enables digital payments and simplifies commerce experiences on behalf of merchants and consumers worldwide. PayPal is committed to democratizing financial services to help improve the financial health of individuals and to increase economic opportunity for entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes around the world. Our goal is to enable our merchants and consumers to manage and move their money anywhere in the world in the markets we serve, anytime, on any platform, and using any device when sending payments or getting paid, including person-to-person (“P2P”) payments. We believe that effective management of non-financial risks and opportunities, including environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) topics, helps to create value for our stakeholders and deliver on our mission and strategy. We also believe that our core values help stimulate the creativity and engagement of our global workforce to deliver products and services designed to meet the diverse needs of our customers. Unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires, references to “we,” “our,” “us,” “the Company,” or “PayPal” refer to PayPal Holdings, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

									4

PayPal’s payment solutions enable our customers to connect, transact, and send and receive payments, whether they are online or in person. We provide proprietary payment solutions accepted by merchants that enable the completion of payments on our platform on behalf of our customers. We operate a global, two-sided network at scale that connects merchants and consumers with 426 million active accounts (consisting of 391 million consumer active accounts and 35 million merchant active accounts) across approximately 200 markets as of December 31, 2023.

We offer our customers the flexibility to use their PayPal or Venmo accounts to send and receive payments for goods and services, as well as the ability to transfer and withdraw funds. We enable consumers to exchange funds more safely with merchants using a variety of funding sources, which may include a bank account, a PayPal or Venmo account balance, PayPal and Venmo branded credit products including our installment products, a credit card, a debit card, certain cryptocurrencies, or other stored value products such as gift cards, and eligible rewards. Our PayPal and Venmo products also make it safer and simpler for friends and family to transfer funds to each other. We offer merchants an end-to-end payments solution that provides authorization and settlement capabilities, as well as instant access to funds and payouts. We help merchants connect with their customers, and offer tools and insights to help increase sales, power omnichannel experiences, and manage risk. We also help reduce the friction typically involved in cross-border commerce by offering consumers a simple payment experience and by enabling merchants to extend their reach to consumers in the global markets in which our services are available.

We earn revenues primarily by charging fees for completing payment transactions for our customers and other payment-related services, which are typically based on the volume of activity processed on our payments platform. We also generate revenue from customers for currency conversion, for instant transfers from their PayPal or Venmo account to their bank account or debit card, and to facilitate the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies; however, we generally do not charge customers to fund or draw from their accounts. We also earn revenue by providing other value-added services, which primarily comprise revenue earned through partnerships, interest and fees from our merchant and consumer credit products, interest earned on certain assets underlying customer balances, referral fees, subscription fees, and gateway services.

									5

KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS

We measure the scale of our platform and the relevance of our products and services to our customers through certain metrics, including total payment volume, payment transactions, and active accounts:

Total payment volume (“TPV”) is the value of payments, net of payment reversals, successfully completed on our payments platform or enabled by PayPal via a partner payment solution, not including gateway-exclusive transactions.

Number of payment transactions are the total number of payments, net of payment reversals, successfully completed on our payments platform or enabled by PayPal via a partner payment solution, not including gateway-exclusive transactions.

An active account is an account registered directly with PayPal or a platform access partner that has completed a transaction on our platform, not including gateway-exclusive transactions, within the past 12 months. A platform access partner is a third party whose customers are provided access to PayPal’s platform or services through such third-party’s login credentials, including individuals and entities that utilize Hyperwallet’s payout capabilities. A user may register on our platform to access different products and may register more than one account to access a product. Accordingly, a user may have more than one active account. The number of active accounts provides management with additional perspective on the overall scale of our platform, but may not have a direct relationship to our operating results.

OUR STRENGTHS

Our business is built on a strong foundation designed to drive growth and differentiate us from our competitors. A critical element of our overall growth strategy involves increasing the engagement of our active accounts, which we expect will contribute to growth in payment transactions, total payment volume, and net revenues. We believe that our competitive strengths include the following:

• Two-sided network*—*our payments platform connecting merchants and consumers enables PayPal to offer unique end-to-end product experiences designed to remove friction for consumers and drive sales conversion for merchants while gaining valuable insights into how our customers use our platform. Our payments platform provides for digital and in-store (at the point of sale) transactions while being both technology and platform agnostic.

• Merchant and consumer choice*—*our branded and unbranded card processing payment solutions support an open ecosystem that provides choice to both merchants and consumers, enabling flexibility to make and receive payments using a wide variety of different funding options and digital wallet solutions.

									6

*•Scale—*our global scale helps us to drive organic growth. As of December 31, 2023, we had 426 million active accounts, consisting of 391 million consumer active accounts and 35 million merchant active accounts in approximately 200 markets around the world. A market is a geographic area or political jurisdiction, such as a country, territory, or protectorate, in which we offer some or all of our products and services. A country, territory, or protectorate is identified by a distinct set of laws and regulations. In 2023, we processed $1.53 trillion of TPV.

• Trusted brands*—*we have built and strengthened well-recognized and trusted brands, including PayPal, Braintree, and Venmo. Our communications and marketing efforts across multiple geographies and demographic groups play an important role in building brand visibility, usage, and overall preference among customers.

• Risk and compliance management*—*our enterprise risk and compliance management program is designed to help keep customer information secure and ensure we process legitimate transactions around the world, while identifying and minimizing illegal, high-risk, or fraudulent transactions.

• Regulatory licenses*—*we believe that our regulatory licenses, which enable us to operate in markets around the world, are a distinct advantage and help support business growth.

MERCHANT AND CONSUMER PAYMENT SOLUTIONS

In late 2023, we reorganized our operations to be more closely aligned to the customers we serve—consumers, small businesses, and large enterprises—and to help enable our teams to deliver more seamless and differentiated end-to-end experiences.

Merchant value proposition

We partner with our merchants to help grow and expand their businesses by providing global reach and powering all aspects of digital checkout. We offer alternative payment methods including access to credit solutions, provide fraud prevention and risk management solutions, reduce merchant losses through proprietary protection programs, and offer tools and insights for utilizing data analytics to help merchants attract and engage customers and improve sales conversion. We employ a technology and platform agnostic approach intended to enable merchants of all sizes to quickly and easily provide digital checkout online, including through PayPal-branded checkout and unbranded card processing (primarily consisting of Braintree), as well as in person at the point of sale, across all platforms and devices, and to securely and simply receive payments from their customers.

									7

PayPal’s payments platform enables merchants to accept all types of online and in person payments, including those made with the PayPal and Venmo digital wallets, our consumer credit products, credit cards and debit cards, and competing digital wallets, as well as other popular local payment methods. Our diversified suite of products and services is tailored to meet the needs of merchants regardless of their size or business complexity. We offer a seamless, omnichannel solution that helps merchants manage and grow their business. By offering simplified and personalized shopping experiences for consumers, we help merchants drive increased engagement and sales conversion.

We offer access to merchant financing products for eligible small and medium-sized businesses through the PayPal Working Capital and PayPal Business Loan products, which we collectively refer to as our merchant financing solutions. The PayPal Working Capital product allows businesses to access a loan or cash advance for a fixed fee, based on their annual payment volume processed by PayPal. The PayPal Business Loan product provides businesses with access to short-term financing for a fixed fee or interest based on an evaluation of both the applying business as well as the business owner. In the United States (“U.S.”), these products are provided under a program agreement with an independent chartered financial institution. We believe that our merchant financing solutions enable us to deepen our engagement with our existing small and medium-sized merchants and expand services to new merchants by providing access to capital that may not be available from traditional banks or other lenders.

We generate revenues from merchants primarily by charging fees for completing their payment transactions and other payment-related services. We also earn revenues from interest and fees earned on our merchant loans receivables.

Consumer value proposition

We focus on providing affordable, convenient, and secure consumer financial products and services intended to facilitate the management and movement of money. We provide consumers with a digital wallet that enables them to send payments to merchants more safely using a variety of funding sources, which may include a bank account, a PayPal or Venmo account balance, our consumer credit products, a credit card, a debit card, certain cryptocurrencies, or other stored value products such as gift cards, and eligible rewards. Our goal is to create the simplest checkout experience possible for consumers both online and on mobile devices.

We also offer consumers P2P payment solutions for domestic and international transfers through our PayPal, Venmo, and Xoom products and services. Our Venmo digital wallet in the U.S. is a leading mobile application used to move money between our customers and to make purchases at select merchants. Our Xoom international money transfer service enables our customers to send money to people around the world in a secure, fast, and cost-effective way. P2P is an important source of customer engagement and also serves as a customer acquisition channel that facilitates organic growth by enabling potential users to establish active accounts with PayPal or Venmo at the time they make or receive a P2P payment.

We also focus on simplifying and personalizing shopping experiences for our consumers by offering tools for product discovery, price tracking, saving through deals and offers, convenient package tracking, and redemption of shopping rewards, which help our merchants to increase consumer engagement and sales conversion.

We offer credit products to eligible consumers in certain markets as a funding source at checkout. Our consumer credit offerings include our buy now, pay later products in the U.S., United Kingdom (“U.K.”), France, and Germany, among other markets, and in Japan through our Paidy brand. A key attribute of our buy now, pay later products is the absence of interest or consumer late fees for missed payments in most of the geographies where we offer them. Further, we offer interest-bearing installment products for consumers in the U.S. (issued by an independent chartered financial institution) and in Germany. In the U.S., consumers may apply for our PayPal- and Venmo-branded consumer credit cards and our PayPal Credit revolving consumer credit product, which are offered through a partnership with an independent chartered financial institution. We offer a PayPal-issued PayPal Credit product in the U.K. We believe that our consumer credit products help us to increase engagement with consumers and merchants on our two-sided network.

We have expanded our consumer value proposition through enhancements to the PayPal and Venmo digital wallets, which provide functionality to enable consumers to more easily check out, explore deals and offers, track and redeem rewards, and to transact with certain cryptocurrencies, including buying, holding, selling, sending, and receiving them in certain markets. Our goal is to drive increased consumer engagement by providing consumers with a wide range of services to manage their finances and enhance their ability to shop online and in person.

We generate revenue from consumers from: foreign currency conversions, instant transfers from their PayPal or Venmo account to their bank account or debit card, and facilitating the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies; interest, fees, or other revenue from our credit products; and other miscellaneous fees.

									8

PROTECTING MERCHANTS AND CONSUMERS

Protecting merchants and consumers on our payments platform from financial and fraud loss is important to successfully compete and sustainably grow our business. Fraudulent activities, such as account takeover, identity theft (including stolen financial information), and malicious activities by counterparties, represent a significant risk to merchants and consumers, as well as their payment partners. In addition to the protections afforded by applicable law, we provide merchants and consumers with protection programs for certain purchase transactions completed on our payments platform. Our protection programs help protect both merchants and consumers from financial loss resulting from, among other things, counterparty non-performance. These programs are designed to promote confidence on the part of both consumers, who will not be required to pay in certain circumstances, such as not receiving their purchased item in the condition significantly as described, and merchants, who will receive payment for delivering an item to the customer. We believe that these programs are generally consistent with or broader than protections provided by other participants in the payments industry.

Our ability to help protect both merchants and consumers is based largely on our proprietary, end-to-end payments platform and our ability to utilize the data from both sides of transactions on our two-sided network, specifically from buyers and sellers and from senders and receivers of payments. Our ongoing investment in systems and processes is designed to enhance the safety and security of our products and reflects our goal of having PayPal recognized as one of the world’s most trusted payments brands.

COMPETITION

The global payments industry is highly competitive, dynamic, highly innovative, and increasingly subject to regulatory scrutiny and oversight. Many of the areas in which we compete evolve rapidly with innovative and disruptive technologies, shifting user preferences and needs, price sensitivity of merchants and consumers, and frequent introductions of new products and services. Competition also may intensify as new competitors emerge, businesses combine or enter into new partnerships, and established companies in other segments expand to become competitive with various aspects of our business.

Our business faces competition from a wide range of businesses and from all forms of physical and electronic payments. We face competition from banks and financial institutions, which provide traditional payment methods (particularly credit cards and debit cards (collectively, “payment cards”), electronic bank transfers, credit, and installment methods), payment networks that facilitate payments for payment cards or proprietary retail networks, payment card processors, and “card on file” services. We also face competition from providers offering a variety of payment products and services, including tokenized and contactless payment cards, digital wallets and mobile payments solutions, credit, installment or other buy now pay later methods, real-time payment systems, P2P payments and money remittance services, card readers and other devices or technologies for payment at point of sale (such as contactless cards, tokenized cards, Near Field Communication (NFC) based solutions, and Quick Response (QR) code based solutions), virtual currencies (such as cryptocurrencies and stablecoins) and distributed ledger technologies, and tools that simplify and personalize shopping experiences for consumers and merchants. Our products and services also face competition from paper-based payments (primarily cash and checks).

We differentiate ourselves to merchants through our ability to innovate and develop products and services that offer new payment experiences for our merchants, demonstrate that they may achieve incremental sales by using and offering our services to consumers, and support transactions on our payments platform across varied technologies and payment methods; through the simplicity and transparency of our fee structure; and through our seller protection programs, analytics, and risk management, as well as other merchant services. In addition, we differentiate ourselves to consumers through our broad acceptance and the ability to use our products and services across multiple commerce channels, including e-commerce, mobile, and in person payments, and without sharing their financial information with the merchant or any other party they are paying; our customer service, dispute resolution, and purchase protection programs; and our ability to simplify and personalize shopping experiences. We invest resources towards improving our products and services and expanding their acceptance, offering choice in payment options, providing excellent customer service, and building brands that merchants and consumers trust.

In addition to the discussion in this section, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors” under the caption “We face substantial and increasingly intense competition worldwide in the global payments industry” for further discussion of the potential impact of competition on our business.

									9

STRATEGY

Our ability to grow revenue is affected by, among other things, the macroeconomic environment and its impact on consumer spending patterns, adoption of digital payment methods, the expansion of multiple commerce channels, the growth of mobile devices and merchant and consumer applications on those devices, the growth of merchants and consumers globally with internet and mobile access, the pace of transition from cash and checks to digital forms of payment, our share of digital payments, and our ability to innovate and introduce new products, services, and features that merchants and consumers value. Our strategy to drive growth in our business includes the following:

• Growing our core business: through expanding our global capabilities, customer base and scale, increasing our customers’ engagement with our products and services by better addressing their everyday needs to access, manage, and move money, creating seamless checkout experiences, and expanding the adoption of our solutions by merchants and consumers;

• Expanding our value proposition for merchants and consumers: by being technology- and platform- agnostic, partnering with our merchants to grow and expand their business online and in person, including offering merchants risk management and seller protection programs, and providing consumers with simple, secure, and flexible ways to manage and move money across different markets, merchants, and platforms, including offering buyer protection programs and simplifying their shopping experiences;

• Forming and expanding strategic partnerships: by building new strategic partnerships and deepening existing ones to provide better experiences for our customers, offer greater choice and flexibility, acquire new customers, and reinforce our role in the payments ecosystem; and

• Seeking new areas of growth: by focusing on innovation in both the digital and physical worlds and finding opportunities to expand and improve upon our existing products and capabilities.

TECHNOLOGY

Our payments platform utilizes a combination of proprietary and third-party technologies and services intended to facilitate transactions efficiently and securely between millions of merchants and consumers worldwide across different channels, markets, and networks. Our payments platform connects with financial services providers around the world and allows consumers to make purchases using a wide range of payment methods, regardless of where a merchant is located. Consumers who use our payments platform can send payments in approximately 200 markets around the world and in approximately 150 currencies, withdraw funds to their bank accounts in 56 currencies, and hold balances in their PayPal accounts in 24 currencies.

We have developed intuitive user interfaces, customer tools, transaction management databases, and payment network integrations on our platform designed to enable our customers to utilize our suite of products and services. Our payments platform, open application programming interfaces, and developer tools are designed to enable developers to innovate with ease and offer robust solutions to our global ecosystem of merchants and consumers, while at the same time helping to maintain the security of our customers’ information.

The technology infrastructure supporting our payments platform is designed to simplify the storage and processing of large amounts of data and facilitate the deployment and operation of large-scale global products and services in both our own data centers and when hosted by third-party cloud service providers. Our technology infrastructure is designed around industry best practices intended to reduce downtime and help ensure the resiliency of our payments platform in the event of outages or catastrophic occurrences. Our payments platform incorporates multiple layers of protection for business continuity and system redundancy purposes and to help mitigate cybersecurity risks. We have a comprehensive cybersecurity program designed to protect our technology infrastructure and payments platform against cybersecurity threats, which includes regularly testing our systems to identify and address potential vulnerabilities. We strive to continually improve our technology infrastructure and payments platform to enhance the customer experience and to increase efficiency, scalability, and security.

For additional information regarding risks relating to our technology infrastructure and cybersecurity, see the information in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” under the captions “Cyberattacks and security vulnerabilities could result in serious harm to our reputation, business, and financial condition” and “Business interruptions or systems failures may impair the availability of our websites, applications, products or services, or otherwise harm our business.”

									10

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Our total research and development expense was $1.6 billion, $1.7 billion, and $1.6 billion in 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The protection of our intellectual property, including our trademarks, copyrights, domain names, trade dress, patents, and trade secrets, is important to the success of our business. We seek to protect our intellectual property rights by relying on applicable laws, regulations, and administrative procedures in the U.S. and internationally. We have registered our core brands as domain names and as trademarks in the U.S. and many international jurisdictions. We also have an active program to secure and enforce trademarks and domain names that correspond to our brands in markets of interest. We have filed and continue to file patent applications in the U.S. and in international jurisdictions covering certain aspects of our proprietary technology and new innovations. We also rely on contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary rights when offering or procuring products and services. We routinely enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors, and non-disclosure agreements with parties with whom we conduct business to control access to, and use and disclosure of, our proprietary information.

For additional information regarding risks relating to our intellectual property, see the information in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” under the captions “Third parties may allege that we are infringing their patents and other intellectual property rights” and “We may be unable to protect or enforce our intellectual property.”

GOVERNMENT REGULATION

We operate globally and in a rapidly evolving regulatory environment characterized by a heightened focus by regulators globally on all aspects of the payments industry, including anti-money laundering, countering terrorist financing, privacy, cybersecurity, and consumer protection. The laws and regulations applicable to us, including those enacted prior to the advent of digital payments, continue to evolve through legislative and regulatory action and judicial interpretation. New or changing laws and regulations, including changes to their interpretation and implementation, as well as increased penalties and enforcement actions related to non-compliance, could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. We monitor these areas closely and are focused on designing compliant solutions for our customers.

Government regulation impacts key aspects of our business. We are subject to the laws and regulations applicable to the payments industry in the markets we operate, which are subject to interpretation and change.

Payments regulation. Various laws and regulations govern the payments industry in the U.S. and internationally. In the U.S., PayPal, Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary) holds licenses to operate as a money transmitter (or its equivalent) in the states where such licenses are required, as well as in the District of Columbia and certain territories. These licenses include not only our PayPal-branded products and services, but also our Venmo, Hyperwallet, and Xoom products and services, to the extent offered in these locations. As a licensed money transmitter, PayPal is subject to, among other requirements, restrictions on the investment of customer funds, reporting requirements, bonding requirements, and inspection by state regulatory agencies. In certain cases, these licenses also generally cover PayPal’s service enabling customers to buy, hold, transfer, and sell cryptocurrency directly from their PayPal or Venmo account. In the State of New York, PayPal holds a full Bitlicense issued by the New York Department of Financial Services to offer cryptocurrency services in the state.

Outside the U.S., we provide similar services customized for various countries and foreign jurisdictions through our foreign subsidiaries. The activities of those non-U.S. entities are, or may be, supervised by a financial regulatory authority in the jurisdictions in which they operate. Among other regulatory authorities, the Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (the “CSSF”), the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the People’s Bank of China, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Reserve Bank of India, the Central Bank of Russia, and the Central Bank of Brazil have asserted jurisdiction over some or all of our activities in their respective jurisdictions. This list is not exhaustive, and there are numerous other regulatory agencies which have asserted or may assert jurisdiction over our activities.

In addition, financial services regulators in various jurisdictions, including the U.S. and the European Union (“EU”), have implemented authentication requirements for banks and payment processors intended to reduce online fraud, which could impose significant costs, make it more difficult for new customers to open PayPal accounts, and reduce the ease of use of our products.

									11

Financial Services supervision. We serve our customers in the U.K. through PayPal U.K. Limited (“PayPal U.K.”), a wholly-owned subsidiary that is subject to regulation as an electronic money institution in the U.K. by the FCA. PayPal U.K. is authorized and regulated by the FCA from November 1, 2023. We serve our customers in the EU (and the U.K. through October 31, 2023) through PayPal (Europe) S.à.r.l. et Cie, S.C.A. (“PayPal (Europe)”), a wholly-owned subsidiary that is licensed and subject to regulation as a credit institution in Luxembourg by the CSSF. Accordingly, we must comply with rules and regulations of the U.K. and European banking industry, including those related to capitalization, funds management, corporate governance, anti-money laundering, disclosure, reporting, and inspection. We are, or may be, subject to banking-related regulations in other countries now or in the future related to our role in the financial industry. In addition, based on our relationships with our partner financial institutions, we are, or may be, subject to indirect regulation and examination by the regulators of these partner financial institutions.

Lending regulation. Our U.S. consumer short-term, interest-free, installment product is subject to federal and state laws governing consumer credit and debt collection, and PayPal holds multiple state licenses as the lender for this product. Paidy, Inc. holds multiple licenses for the issuance of its consumer installment products in Japan and is registered with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as a Comprehensive Credit Purchase Intermediary. In Australia, PayPal Credit Pty Limited offers a consumer short-term, interest-free, installment product that is exempt from regulation by the primary consumer credit legislation, but is subject to other laws which cover the provision of financial services, credit reporting, debt collection, and privacy. PayPal’s consumer short-term, interest-free, installment products in the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, and Italy are generally exempt from primary consumer credit legislation; however, certain consumer lending laws, consumer protection, and banking transparency regulations apply to this activity.

Our U.S. consumer interest-bearing installment product is subject to federal and state laws and is offered by an independent chartered financial institution. PayPal’s interest-bearing installment product for consumers in Germany is subject to applicable local laws such as consumer (lending) laws, consumer protection, or banking transparency regulations. These loans are originated by PayPal (Europe).

PayPal and Venmo co-branded consumer credit cards and the PayPal Credit revolving consumer credit product are issued by an independent chartered financial institution in the U.S., and are subject to laws and regulations governing these programs. PayPal Credit in the U.K. is a regulated, revolving consumer credit product subject to applicable local laws and regulations.

Our U.S. merchant lending products are subject to federal and state regulations and are offered by an independent chartered financial institution. Our merchant lending products offered in Germany and France are subject to the laws of Luxembourg and certain local laws, and our merchant lending product offered in the U.K. is subject to U.K. regulation. The loans offered to European and U.K. merchants are originated by PayPal (Europe) and PayPal U.K., respectively. Our merchant lending product in Australia is subject to the laws of Australia and originated by PayPal Credit Pty Limited.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”). The CFPB has significant authority to regulate consumer financial products in the U.S., including consumer credit, deposits, payments, and similar products. As a larger market participant of remittance transfers, we are subject to the direct supervisory authority of the CFPB. The CFPB and similar regulatory agencies in other jurisdictions may have broad consumer protection mandates that could result in the promulgation and interpretation of rules and regulations that may affect our business.

Anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, and sanctions. PayPal is subject to anti-money laundering (“AML”) laws and regulations in the U.S. and other jurisdictions, as well as laws designed to prevent the use of the financial systems to facilitate terrorist activities. Our AML program is designed to prevent our payments platform from being used to facilitate money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illicit activities, or to do business in countries or with persons and entities included on designated country or person lists promulgated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls and equivalent authorities in other countries. Our AML and sanctions compliance programs, overseen by our AML/Bank Secrecy Act Officer, are composed of policies, procedures, and internal controls, and are designed to address these legal and regulatory requirements and assist in managing money laundering and terrorist financing risks.

Interchange fees. Interchange fees (the transaction fees for processing credit and debit card transactions) are subject to regulation in certain jurisdictions. For example, in the EU, the Multilateral Interchange Fee Regulation caps interchange fees and provides for business rules to be complied with by any company dealing with payment card transactions. Interchange fees are being reviewed or challenged in various jurisdictions. As a result, the fees that we collect in certain jurisdictions may become the subject of regulatory challenge.

									12

Data protection and privacy. We are subject to a number of laws, rules, directives, and regulations (“privacy and data protection laws”) relating to the collection, use, retention, security, processing, and transfer (collectively, “processing”) of personally identifiable information about our customers, our merchants’ customers, and employees (“personal data”) in the countries where we operate. Our business relies on the processing of personal data in many jurisdictions and the movement of data across national borders. As a result, much of the personal data that we process, which may include certain financial information associated with individuals, is subject to one or more privacy and data protection laws in one or more jurisdictions. In many cases, these laws apply not only to third-party transactions, but also to transfers of information between or among us, our subsidiaries, and other parties with which we have commercial relationships.

Regulatory scrutiny of privacy, data protection, cybersecurity practices, and the processing of personal data is increasing around the world. Regulatory authorities are continuously considering numerous legislative and regulatory proposals and interpretive guidelines that may contain additional privacy and data protection obligations. Many jurisdictions in which we operate have adopted, or are in the process of adopting or amending data privacy legislation or regulation aimed at creating and enhancing individual privacy rights. In addition, the interpretation and application of these privacy and data protection laws in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere are subject to change and may subject us to increased regulatory scrutiny and business costs.

Anti-corruption. PayPal is subject to applicable anti-corruption laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, and similar laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate. Anti-corruption laws generally prohibit offering, promising, giving, accepting, or authorizing others to provide anything of value, either directly or indirectly, to or from a government official or private party in order to influence official action or otherwise gain an unfair business advantage, such as to obtain or retain business. We have implemented policies, procedures, and internal controls that are designed to comply with these laws and regulations.

Additional regulatory developments. Various regulatory agencies continue to examine and implement laws governing a wide variety of issues, including virtual currencies, identity theft, account management guidelines, disclosure rules, cybersecurity, competition, and marketing, which may impact PayPal’s business. Certain governments around the world are adopting laws and regulations pertaining to ESG performance, transparency, and reporting, including those related to general corporate ESG disclosures (e.g., the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) as well as topical reporting and risk management disclosure requirements, such as obligations related to disclosure of the management of climate-related risks.

For an additional discussion on governmental regulation affecting our business, please see “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and “Item 3. Legal Proceedings” included in this Form 10-K.

ESG MANAGEMENT

PayPal is committed to creating a more inclusive global economy and advancing our core values of Inclusion, Innovation, Collaboration, and Wellness across our communities, workforce, and strategies. We manage priority ESG risks and opportunities organized across responsible business practices, employees and culture, social innovation, and environmental sustainability. We believe this integrated, enterprise-wide approach to managing our global business responsibly helps to enable us to create value for our stakeholders, including our stockholders, employees, partners, and communities. We continue to advance and prioritize efforts to manage key non-financial factors critical to our long-term business, including further enhancements to support the safety and security of our products and platform, ongoing programmatic development intended to foster an inclusive culture across the employee experience, and progress on our science-based approach to reducing our climate change impacts. We take this commitment seriously and endeavor to provide transparent disclosures on our progress through our annual Global Impact Report and other communications.

HUMAN CAPITAL

At PayPal, we consider the management of our global talent (human capital) to be essential to the ongoing success of our business. As of December 31, 2023, we employed approximately 27,200 people globally, with 45% in the Americas, 42% in Asia-Pacific, and 13% in Europe and the Middle East. Our global employees work predominantly full-time and represent 144 nationalities, across 27 countries, including approximately 10,200 located in the U.S.

									13

Attracting, recruiting, developing, and retaining diverse talent enables us to provide our customers with products and services that help them to thrive in the global economy. In 2023, we continued to build employee awareness and engagement in our leadership principles, which were launched in 2022, to establish a common set of expectations for all employees. We continued to integrate these principles across our global talent strategy to help shape our programs throughout the employee lifecycle and achieve key business priorities. A year after launch, 78% of employees responding to a global survey reported that the leadership principles are now part of their day-to-day work. We also remain focused on promoting the physical, mental, and financial wellness of our employees, particularly as our workforce continues to navigate changes in where and how we work and operate in a dynamic and competitive environment.

Employee engagement

We use employee feedback to directly inform the ongoing development of our employee programs. In addition to administering an annual survey to gather input from our global workforce, we also conducted specific surveys to gather direct employee feedback on our specific topics. This year, our 2023 annual employee survey was conducted in September, between the announcement of the appointment of Alex Chriss as PayPal’s new CEO and his assumption of the role. We heard from 82% of our global employees. Our engagement score, which reflects whether employees would recommend PayPal to their peers and/or are happy at PayPal, was 77%. Our score measuring intent to stay was 77%, which reflects an employee’s expectation to remain employed with the company in two years.

Talent acquisition, development, and retention

As a leading technology platform that enables digital payments and simplifies commerce experiences, we compete for top global talent around the world. We believe that a strong culture focused on employee experiences that enables advancement, learning, and individual career insights is essential to the successful acquisition, development, and retention of diverse talent. Accordingly, we have implemented programs focused on inclusive hiring practices and extending our talent pipeline through targeted partnerships, revise our career development program for individuals and managers, extended individual coaching and mentorship programs (particularly for technical and underrepresented talent), and advanced efforts for employees to grow through self-paced and community learning experiences.

Employee wellness

We remain focused on promoting the holistic well-being of our employees, including resources, programs, and services to support our employees’ physical, mental, and financial wellness. Benefits include Global Wellness Days for all employees, resources to foster emotional well-being, and providing workplace flexibility through Crisis Leave and other programs. We promote employee financial wellness, including by offering individual employee financial coaching. Through our global Community Impact program, we support our employees’ individual passions and communities by matching eligible employee donations and volunteer time with non-profit organizations up to $2,500 annually per employee.

Diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging

We believe that fostering diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging (“DIE&B”) is critical to our global talent strategy and pivotal to building a culture that embraces individual characteristics, values diversity, minimizes barriers, and enhances feelings of security and support across the workplace. We are committed to equal pay for equal work and promoting enterprise-wide inclusive learning opportunities. We believe that our strong commitment to DIE&B is evident at all levels of the organization from our Board of Directors to our executive leadership team to our global workforce. As of December 31, 2023, 46% of our Board and 75% of our senior leadership team identified as women and/or from a diverse ethnic group. Across our workforce, we reached 55% overall diverse workforce representation, including 43% global gender diversity (inclusive of self-identified women and non-binary employees) and 54% U.S. ethnic diversity, as of December 31, 2023. Additional U.S. workforce diversity metrics can be found in our public EEO-1 reports and annual Global Impact Report available at https://about.pypl.com/values-in-action/reporting/default.aspx.

									14

Workforce representation is only one aspect of our broader DIE&B strategy. In 2023, we continued our support for underrepresented communities and employees, including through activities such as inclusion-focused employee learning modules and our enterprise-wide sponsorship program. We continue to evaluate DIE&B progress across the company and as part of the individual performance assessment under our 2023 annual incentive plan for our senior executives. In addition, we empower eight employee resource groups, which are open to all employees, to promote community and belonging for employees that identify as Black, Latinx/Hispanic, women, interfaith, veterans, LGBTQ+, Asian, and disabled persons and their allies.

Our evolving workplace

We remain focused on creating a culture of flexibility and community by designing ways to collaborate across diverse workplace models, whether working virtually, on-site, or using a hybrid approach. We empower functional leadership to determine the most appropriate workplace strategy for their teams to optimize employee productivity and engagement and deliver on business priorities. Across PayPal, we are focused on providing tools and resources to support our diverse and distributed teams. We believe this flexible approach has broadened our potential global talent pools.

AVAILABLE INFORMATION

The address of our principal executive offices is PayPal Holdings, Inc., 2211 North First Street, San Jose, California 95131. Our website is located at www.paypal.com, and our investor relations website is located at https://investor.pypl.com. From time to time, we may use our investor relations site and other online and social media channels, including the PayPal Corporate website (https://about.pypl.com), the PayPal Newsroom (https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/), PayPal’s LinkedIn page (https://www.linkedin.com/company/paypal), Alex Chriss’ LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexchriss/), Alex Chriss’ X profile (https://twitter.com/acce), and Jamie Miller’s LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiesmiller/), as a means of disclosing information about the Company, including information which could be deemed to be material to investors. Our Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports are available free of charge on our investor relations website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. The content of our websites and information we may post on, provide to, or accessible through online and social media channels, including those mentioned above, are not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K or in any other report or document we file with the SEC, and any references to our websites or online and social media channels are intended to be inactive textual references only.

									15

You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, in addition to other information appearing in this Form 10-K, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes, for important information regarding risks and uncertainties that could affect us. These risk factors do not identify all risks we face, and additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that adversely affect our business. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations, future prospects, and the trading price of our common stock could be materially and adversely affected.

CYBERSECURITY AND TECHNOLOGY RISKS

Cyberattacks and security vulnerabilities could result in serious harm to our reputation, business, and financial condition.

The techniques used to attempt to obtain unauthorized or illegal access to systems and information (including customers’ personal data), disable or degrade service, exploit vulnerabilities, or sabotage systems are constantly evolving. In some circumstances, these attempts may not be recognized or detected until after they have been launched against a target. Unauthorized parties will continue to attempt to gain access to our systems or facilities through various means, including through hacking into our systems or facilities or those of our customers, partners, or vendors, and attempting to fraudulently induce users of our systems (including employees, vendor and partner personnel and customers) into disclosing user names, passwords, payment card information, multi-factor authentication application access or other sensitive information used to gain access to such systems or facilities. This information may, in turn, be used to access our customers’ confidential personal or proprietary information and financial instrument data that are stored on or accessible through our information technology systems and those of third parties with whom we partner. This information may also be used to execute fraudulent transactions or otherwise engage in fraudulent actions. Numerous and evolving cybersecurity threats, including advanced and persisting cyberattacks, cyberextortion, distributed denial-of-service attacks, ransomware, spear phishing and social engineering schemes, the introduction of computer viruses or other malware, and the physical destruction of all or portions of our information technology and infrastructure and those of third parties with whom we partner or that are part of our information technology supply chain, are becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex, may be difficult to detect, and could compromise the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of the data in our systems, as well as the systems themselves.

We believe that hostile actors, who may comprise individuals, coordinated groups, sophisticated organizations, or nation state supported entities may target PayPal due to our name, brand recognition, types of data (including sensitive payments- and identity-related data) that customers provide to us, and the widespread adoption and use of our products and services. We have experienced from time to time, and may experience in the future, cybersecurity incidents, including breaches of our security measures, network breaches, and compromise of personally identifiable customer information due to human error, deception, malfeasance, insider threats, system errors, defects, vulnerabilities, or other issues.

Any cybersecurity incidents, including cyberattacks or data security breaches affecting the information technology or infrastructure of companies we acquire or of our customers, partners, or vendors (including data center and cloud computing providers) could have similar negative effects.

Under payment card network rules and our contracts with our payment processors, if there is a breach of payment card information stored by us or our direct payment card processing vendors, we could be liable to the payment card issuing banks, including for their cost of issuing new cards and related expenses. Cybersecurity breaches and other exploited security vulnerabilities could subject us to significant costs and third-party liabilities, result in improper disclosure of data and violations of applicable privacy and other laws, require us to change our business practices, cause us to incur significant remediation costs, lead to loss of customer confidence in, or decreased use of, our products and services, damage our reputation and brands, divert the attention of management from the operation of our business, result in significant compensation or contractual penalties from us to our customers and their business partners as a result of losses to or claims by them, or expose us to litigation, regulatory investigations, and significant fines and penalties. While we maintain insurance policies intended to help offset the financial impact we may experience from these risks, our coverage may be insufficient to compensate us for all losses caused by security breaches and other damage to or unavailability of our systems.

Business interruptions or systems failures may impair the availability of our websites, applications, products or services, or otherwise harm our business.

Our systems and operations and those of our service providers and partners have experienced from time to time, and may experience in the future, business interruptions or degradation of service because of distributed denial-of-service and other cyberattacks, insider threats, hardware and software defects or malfunctions, human error, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires,

									16

and other natural disasters, public health crises (including pandemics), power losses, disruptions in telecommunications services, fraud, military or political conflicts, terrorist attacks, computer viruses or other malware, or other events. The frequency and intensity of weather events related to climate change are increasing, which could increase the likelihood and severity of such disasters as well as related damage and business interruption. Our corporate headquarters are located in the San Francisco Bay Area, a seismically active region in California. A catastrophic event that could lead to a disruption or failure of our systems or operations could result in significant losses and require substantial recovery time and significant expenditures to resume or maintain operations. Further, some of our systems, including those of companies that we have acquired, are not fully redundant and any failure of these acquired systems, including due to a catastrophic event, may lead to operational outages or delays. While we engage in disaster recovery planning and testing intended to mitigate risks from outages or delays, our planning and testing may not be sufficient for all possible outcomes or events. As a provider of payments solutions, we are also subject to heightened scrutiny by regulators that may require specific business continuity, resiliency and disaster recovery plans, and rigorous testing of such plans, which may be costly and time-consuming to implement, and may divert our resources from other business priorities. Any of the foregoing risks could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, system failures, cyberattacks, unplanned outages, and other events or conditions from time to time that have and may interrupt the availability, or reduce or adversely affect the speed or functionality, of our products and services.

Showing the first 8K of 91K characters. Open the full section

None.

									30

CYBERSECURITY RISK MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY

Our Information Security Program is designed to support the Company in identifying, protecting, detecting, responding to, and recovering from cybersecurity threats and incidents (collectively, “cybersecurity risks”) with the intention to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our critical systems and information.

We design and regularly assess our Information Security Program guided by National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF) and ISO standards (including ISO 27001), proprietary controls and industry best practices.

Our Information Security Program is built on a three lines of defense model integrated into our overall Enterprise Risk and Compliance Management Program (“ERCM Program”). It shares common methodologies, reporting channels, and governance processes that apply across the ERCM Program to other legal, compliance, strategic, operational, and financial risk areas. The Program is governed by the Technology, Information Security, and Privacy Risk Management Committee and overseen by our Board of Directors (“Board”) and its Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee (“ARC Committee”).

The three lines of defense model is designed to provide a structure for risk accountability in the first line of defense (“FLOD”), effective challenge by the second line of defense (“SLOD”), and independent risk assurance by the third line of defense (“TLOD”). Our Office of the Chief Information Security Officer serves as FLOD and provides operational and technical controls and capabilities to protect against cybersecurity risks. The Technology and Information Security team serves as SLOD and provides independent oversight of our technology and cybersecurity risk mitigation practices and capabilities. As TLOD, Internal Audit independently assesses the effectiveness of our first and second line of defense organizations in managing cybersecurity risk and independently reports the results of audits to our ARC Committee to assist it in its oversight duties.

Our Information Security Program includes:

• Risk assessments designed to help identify material cybersecurity risks to our critical systems, information, products, services, and our broader enterprise Information Technology (“IT”) environment;

• Regular testing of our systems to identify and address potential vulnerabilities;

• Integrated planning and preparedness activities supporting business continuity and operational resiliency;

• Security teams principally responsible for managing (1) our annual cybersecurity risk assessment processes, (2) our security controls, and (3) our response to cybersecurity incidents;

• A cybersecurity incident response plan that includes procedures for responding to cybersecurity incidents;

• 24/7 monitoring and measurement of cybersecurity threats through our PayPal Cyber Defense Center (“CDC”);

• The use of external service providers, where appropriate, to assess, test or otherwise assist with aspects of our security controls;

• An information training and awareness program for our employees, contractors, incident response personnel, and senior management; and

• A third-party risk management framework designed to monitor and address risks from cybersecurity incidents of service providers, suppliers, and vendors that includes due diligence over third-party’s information security and technology control environment at onboarding and periodically throughout the lifecycle of the relationship. In addition, our standard contractual terms require notification and communication from third parties in the event of a cybersecurity incident. We maintain procedures to respond to, manage and mitigate third-party cybersecurity events and vulnerabilities when identified.

For a description of risks from known cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any prior cybersecurity incidents, that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect us, including our operations, business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors” under the captions “Cyberattacks and security vulnerabilities could result in serious harm to our reputation, business, and financial condition” and “Business interruptions or systems failures may impair the availability of our websites, applications, products or services, or otherwise harm our business.”

									31

CYBERSECURITY GOVERNANCE

Our Board considers cybersecurity risk as part of its risk oversight function and has delegated to our ARC Committee oversight of cybersecurity and other information technology risks. The ARC Committee oversees PayPal’s overall risk framework, including management’s implementation of our cybersecurity risk management program, and reports to the full Board of Directors on a regular basis on cybersecurity and information technology risk management.

The ARC Committee receives periodic reports from the Chief Information Security Officer (“CISO”) on our cybersecurity risks. Our CISO has numerous years of experience at PayPal and other organizations building security products, managing security infrastructure, providing a variety of security services, and overseeing incident response and management, escalation of security events, vulnerability scanning, and security defect management. Management also updates the ARC Committee, as necessary, regarding cybersecurity incidents.

The ARC Committee reports to the Board regarding its activities, including those related to cybersecurity risk oversight. The Board also receives briefings at least annually from management on our Information Security Program. Board members receive presentations on cybersecurity topics from our CISO and external experts from time to time as part of our continuing education to Board on topics relevant to their service as a member of our Board.

Our cybersecurity teams, overseen by our CISO, are responsible for assessing and managing our risks from cybersecurity threats, including defining security policy and board reporting of security risk. The CISO approves all security policies and oversees the identification, assessment, and management of cybersecurity risks, which provides a proactive and comprehensive approach to safeguarding our information assets. The teams have primary responsibility for our overall Information Security Program and supervise both our internal cybersecurity personnel and our external cybersecurity consultants. Our cybersecurity teams’ experience includes cybersecurity incident response, in-depth security assessments and security emulation exercises to evaluate security profile, security research, education and outreach, and security tool development.

Our cybersecurity teams, in coordination with the CDC, supervise efforts to prevent, detect, mitigate, and remediate cybersecurity threats and incidents through the operation of our incident response plan and various other means, which may include briefings from internal security personnel, threat intelligence and other information obtained from governmental, public or private sources, including external consultants engaged by us, as well as alerts and reports produced by security tools deployed in the IT environment. The CDC team oversees, identifies, and addresses security threats aimed at safeguarding PayPal employees, consumers, and merchants.

Our CISO organization is responsible for independently identifying, measuring, monitoring, controlling and reporting aggregate risks and for setting policies for the management and oversight of risk. The organization monitors cyber regulation requirements, reviews impacts of new products and initiatives, conduct reviews of cyber assessments and testing activities and provides effective challenge to the FLOD risk management activities.

We own and lease various properties in the United States (“U.S.”) and other countries around the world. We use these properties for executive and administrative offices, customer services and operations centers, product development offices, and data centers. As of December 31, 2023, our owned and leased properties provided us with aggregate square footage as follows:

We own a total of approximately 70 acres of land, with approximately 49 acres in the U.S. Our corporate headquarters are located in San Jose, California and occupy approximately 0.7 million of owned square feet.

									32

The information set forth under “Note 13—Commitments and Contingencies—Litigation and Regulatory Matters” to the consolidated financial statements included in Part IV, Item 15 of this Form 10-K is incorporated herein by reference.

Not applicable.

PART II

COMMON STOCK

PayPal common stock is quoted on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “PYPL.”

As of February 1, 2024, there were 3,942 holders of record of our common stock. The actual number of stockholders is significantly greater than this number of record holders, and includes stockholders who are beneficial owners but whose shares are held in street name by brokers and other nominees.

DIVIDEND POLICY

We have never paid any cash dividends and we currently do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

STOCK REPURCHASE ACTIVITY

In June 2022, our Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program that provides for the repurchase of up to $15 billion of our common stock, with no expiration from the date of authorization. Our stock repurchase program is intended to offset the impact of dilution from our equity compensation programs and, subject to market conditions and other factors, may also be used to make opportunistic repurchases of our common stock to reduce outstanding share count. Any share repurchases under our stock repurchase program may be made through open market transactions, block trades, privately negotiated transactions, including accelerated share repurchase agreements or other means at times and in such amounts as management deems appropriate, and will be funded from our working capital or other financing alternatives. Moreover, any stock repurchases are subject to market conditions and other uncertainties and we cannot predict if or when any stock repurchases will be made. We may terminate our stock repurchase program at any time without prior notice.

The stock repurchase activity under our stock repurchase program during the three months ended December 31, 2023 is summarized as follows:

(1) Average price paid per share for open market purchases includes broker commissions, but excludes excise tax.

									33

You should read the following “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes that appear in this report. Unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires, references to “we,” “our,” “us,” “the Company,” and “PayPal” refer to PayPal Holdings, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations focuses on a discussion of 2023 results as compared to 2022 results. For a discussion of 2022 results as compared to 2021 results, see “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” within our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 filed with the SEC on February 10, 2023.

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

THE COMPANY

We are a leading technology platform that enables digital payments and simplifies commerce experiences on behalf of merchants and consumers worldwide. PayPal is committed to democratizing financial services to help improve the financial health of individuals and to increase economic opportunity for entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes around the world. Our goal is to enable our merchants and consumers to manage and move their money anywhere in the world in the markets we serve, anytime, on any platform, and using any device when sending payments or getting paid, including person-to-person payments.

Regulatory environment

We operate globally and in a rapidly evolving regulatory environment characterized by a heightened focus by regulators globally on all aspects of the payments industry, including countering terrorist financing, anti-money laundering, privacy, cybersecurity, and consumer protection. The laws and regulations applicable to us, including those enacted prior to the advent of digital payments, continue to evolve through legislative and regulatory action and judicial interpretation. New or changing laws and regulations, including changes to their interpretation and implementation, as well as increased penalties and enforcement actions related to non-compliance, could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. We monitor these areas closely and are focused on designing compliant solutions for our customers.

Cybersecurity and information security

Cybersecurity and information security risks for global payments and technology companies like us have increased significantly in recent years. Although we have developed systems and processes designed to protect the data we manage, prevent data loss and other security incidents, and enable us to effectively respond to known and potential risks, and expect to continue to expend significant resources to bolster these protections, we remain subject to these risks and there can be no assurance that our security measures will provide sufficient security or prevent breaches or attacks. For additional information regarding our cybersecurity and information security risks, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors—Cyberattacks and security vulnerabilities could result in serious harm to our reputation, business, and financial condition” and “Item 1C. Cybersecurity.”

MACROECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

The broader implications of the macroeconomic environment, including uncertainty around recent international conflicts including the Russia and Ukraine conflict, supply chain shortages, a recession globally or in markets in which we operate, higher inflation rates, higher interest rates, and other related global economic conditions, remain unknown. A deterioration in macroeconomic conditions could continue to increase the risk of lower consumer spending, merchant and consumer bankruptcy, insolvency, business failure, higher credit losses, foreign currency exchange fluctuations, or other business interruption, which may adversely impact our business. If these conditions continue or worsen, they could adversely impact our future financial and operating results.

									34

OVERVIEW OF RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following table provides a summary of our consolidated financial results for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021:

All amounts in tables are rounded to the nearest million, except as otherwise noted. As a result, certain amounts may not recalculate using the rounded amounts provided.

** Not meaningful.

Net revenues increased $2.3 billion, or 8%, in 2023 compared to 2022 driven primarily by growth in total payment volume (“TPV”, as defined below under “Key Metrics”) of 13%.

Total operating expenses increased $1.1 billion, or 4%, in 2023 compared to 2022 due primarily to an increase in transaction expense, partially offset by reductions in sales and marketing expense, restructuring and other, and technology and development expense.

Operating income increased $1.2 billion, or 31%, in 2023 compared to 2022 due to net revenues growing more than operating expenses. Our operating margin was 17% and 14% in 2023 and 2022, respectively, reflecting the positive impact of operating efficiencies in our business and gain on sale of a divested business, partially offset by the negative impact of an increase in transaction expense.

Net income increased by $1.8 billion, or 76%, in 2023 compared to 2022 due to the previously discussed increase in operating income of $1.2 billion and an increase of $854 million in other income (expense), net, driven primarily by net gains on strategic investments in the current period as compared to net losses and impairments on strategic i

Showing the first 8K of 88K characters. Open the full section

Market risk is the potential for economic losses to be incurred on market risk sensitive instruments arising from adverse changes in market factors such as interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates, and equity investment risk. Management establishes and oversees the implementation of policies governing our investing, funding, and foreign currency derivative activities intended to mitigate market risks. We monitor risk exposures on an ongoing basis.

INTEREST RATE RISK

We are exposed to interest rate risk relating to our investment portfolio and from interest-rate sensitive assets underlying the customer balances we hold on our consolidated balance sheets as customer accounts.

As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, approximately 59% and 57%, respectively, of our total cash, cash equivalents, and investment portfolio (excluding restricted cash and strategic investments) was held in cash and cash equivalents. The remaining portfolio and assets underlying the customer balances that we hold on our consolidated balance sheets as customer accounts are maintained in interest and non-interest bearing bank deposits, time deposits, and available-for-sale debt securities. We seek to preserve principal while holding eligible liquid assets, as defined by applicable regulatory requirements and commercial law in certain jurisdictions where we operate, equal to at least 100% of the aggregate amount of all customer balances. We do not pay interest on amounts due to customers.

Interest rate movements affect the interest income we earn on cash and cash equivalents, time deposits, and available-for-sale debt securities and the fair value of those securities. A hypothetical 100 basis points increase in interest rates would have resulted in a decrease in the fair value of our cash equivalents and available-for-sale debt securities investment by approximately $122 million and $161 million at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Changes in the fair value of our available-for-sale debt securities resulting from such interest rate changes are reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (“AOCI”) and are realized only if we sell the securities prior to their scheduled maturities or the declines in fair values are due to expected credit losses.

As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, we had $10.6 billion and $10.4 billion, respectively, in fixed rate debt with varying maturity dates. Since these notes bear interest at fixed rates, they do not result in any financial statement risk associated with changes in interest rates. However, the fair value of these notes fluctuates when interest rates change, increasing in periods of declining interest rates and declining in periods of increasing interest rates.

									53

As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, we also had revolving credit facilities of approximately $5.6 billion and $5.7 billion, respectively, available to us. We are obligated to pay interest on borrowings under these facilities as well as other customary fees, including an upfront fee and an unused commitment fee based on our debt rating. Borrowings under these facilities, if any, bear interest at floating rates. As a result, we are exposed to the risk related to fluctuations in interest rates to the extent of our borrowings. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, ¥50.0 billion (approximately $355 million) and ¥64.3 billion (approximately $491 million), respectively, was outstanding under these facilities. A 100 basis points hypothetical adverse change in applicable market interest rates would not have resulted in a material impact to interest expense recorded in the period. For additional information, see “Note 12—Debt” in the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K.

Interest rates may also adversely impact our customers’ spending levels and ability and willingness to pay outstanding amounts owed to us. Higher interest rates often lead to larger payment obligations by customers of our credit products to us, or to lenders under mortgage, credit card, and other consumer and merchant loans, which may reduce our customers’ ability to remain current on their obligations to us and therefore lead to increased delinquencies, charge-offs, and allowances for loans and interest receivable, which could have an adverse effect on our net income (loss).

FOREIGN CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATE RISK

We have significant operations internationally that are denominated in foreign currencies, primarily the British pound, Euro, Australian dollar, and Canadian dollar, which subject us to foreign currency exchange rate risk and may adversely impact our financial results. We transact in various foreign currencies and have significant international revenues and expenses. In addition, we charge our international subsidiaries for their use of intellectual property and technology and for certain corporate services. Our cash flows, results of operations, and certain of our intercompany balances that are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations may differ materially from expectations, and we may record significant gains or losses due to foreign currency fluctuations and related hedging activities. We are generally a net receiver of foreign currencies and therefore benefit from a weakening of the United States (“U.S.”) dollar, and are adversely affected by a strengthening of the U.S. dollar, relative to foreign currencies. We considered the historical trends in foreign currency exchange rates and determined that it was reasonably possible that changes in exchange rates of 10% for all currencies could be experienced in the near term.

We have a foreign currency exchange exposure management program designed to identify material foreign currency exposures, manage these exposures, and reduce the potential effects of currency fluctuations on our consolidated cash flows and results of operations through the execution of foreign currency exchange contracts. These foreign currency exchange contracts are accounted for as derivative instruments; for additional details related to our foreign currency exchange contracts, please see “Note 10—Derivative Instruments” to the consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K.

We use foreign currency exchange forward contracts to protect our forecasted U.S. dollar-equivalent earnings and our investment in foreign subsidiaries from adverse changes in foreign currency exchange rates. These hedging contracts reduce, but do not entirely eliminate, the impact of adverse foreign currency exchange rate movements. We designate these contracts as cash flow hedges of forecasted revenues and expenses denominated in certain foreign currencies and net investment hedges for accounting purposes. The derivative’s gain or loss is initially reported as a component of AOCI. Cash flow hedges are subsequently reclassified into revenue or expense in the same period the forecasted transaction affects earnings. The accumulated gains and losses associated with net investment hedges will remain in AOCI until the foreign subsidiaries are sold or substantially liquidated, at which point they will be reclassified into earnings.

If the U.S. dollar weakened by a hypothetical 10% at December 31, 2023 and 2022, the amount recorded in AOCI related to our foreign currency exchange forward contracts, before taxes, would have been approximately $622 million and $710 million lower, respectively, before considering the offsetting impact of the underlying hedged item.

We have an additional foreign currency exchange management program in which we use foreign currency exchange contracts to help offset the foreign currency exchange risk on our assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the functional currency of our subsidiaries. These contracts are not designated as hedging instruments and reduce, but do not entirely eliminate, the impact of currency exchange rate movements on our assets and liabilities. The foreign currency exchange gains and losses on our assets and liabilities are recorded in other income (expense), net, and are offset by the gains and losses on the foreign currency exchange contracts.

									54

Adverse changes in exchange rates of a hypothetical 10% for all foreign currencies would have resulted in a negative impact on income before income taxes of approximately $417 million and $173 million at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, without considering the offsetting effect of foreign currency exchange contracts. Foreign currency exchange contracts in place as of December 31, 2023 would have positively impacted income before income taxes by approximately $400 million, resulting in a net negative impact of approximately $17 million. Foreign currency exchange contracts in place as of December 31, 2022 would have positively impacted income before income taxes by approximately $144 million, resulting in a net negative impact of approximately $29 million. These reasonably possible adverse changes in exchange rates of 10% were applied to monetary assets, monetary liabilities, and available-for-sale debt securities denominated in currencies other than the functional currencies of our subsidiaries at the balance sheet dates to compute the adverse impact these changes would have had on our income before income taxes in the near term.

EQUITY INVESTMENT RISK

Our strategic investments are subject to a variety of market-related risks that could substantially reduce or increase the carrying value of the portfolio. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, our strategic investments totaled $1.8 billion and $2.1 billion which represented approximately 11% and 14% of our total cash, cash equivalents, and short-term and long-term investment portfolio at each of those respective dates. Our strategic investments include marketable equity securities, which are publicly traded, and non-marketable equity securities, which are primarily investments in privately held companies. We are required to record all adjustments to the value of these strategic investments through our consolidated statements of income (loss). As such, we expect volatility to our net income (loss) in future periods due to changes in observable prices and impairment related to our non-marketable equity securities accounted for under the Measurement Alternative. These changes could be material based on market conditions. Additionally, the financial success of our investments in privately held companies is typically dependent on a liquidity event, such as a public offering, acquisition, private sale, or other favorable market event providing the ability to realize appreciation in the value of the investment. A hypothetical adverse change of 10% in the carrying value of our strategic investments as of December 31, 2023, which could be experienced in the near term, would have resulted in a decrease of approximately $184 million to the carrying value of the portfolio. We review our non-marketable equity securities accounted for under the Measurement Alternative for impairment when events and circumstances indicate a decline in fair value of such assets below carrying value. Our analysis includes a review of recent operating results and trends, recent purchases and sales of securities, and other publicly available data, for which we assess factors such as the investees’ financial condition and business outlook, industry performance, regulatory, economic, or technological environment, and other relevant events and factors affecting the investees.

The audited consolidated financial statements covering the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021 and accompanying notes listed in Part IV, Item 15(a)(1) of this Form 10‑K are included in this report.

None.

Evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures*.* Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in the Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act), our principal executive officer and our principal financial officer have concluded that as of December 31, 2023, the end of the period covered by this report, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.

Management’s report on internal control over financial reporting. Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on its evaluation under the framework in Internal Control - Integrated Framework, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2023.

									55

The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023 has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which appears in Item 15(a) of this Form 10-K.

Changes in internal controls over financial reporting. There were no changes in our internal controls over financial reporting as defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f) that occurred during our most recently completed fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

RULE 10B5-1 TRADING PLANS

An equity trading plan is a written document that preestablishes the amounts, prices and dates (or formula for determining the amounts, prices and dates) of future purchases or sales of the Company’s stock, including sales of shares acquired under the Company’s employee and director equity plans.

On December 7, 2023, Jonathan Auerbach entered into an equity trading plan that is intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Rule 10b5-1(c) under the Exchange Act. Mr. Auerbach was serving as an executive officer of the Company at the time the trading plan was adopted. The trading plan has a duration of March 7, 2024 to September 10, 2024 with approximately 85,839 shares (vested and net shares expected to vest over the duration of the trading plan) subject to sale under the plan.

None.

PART III

Incorporated by reference from our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after December 31, 2023.

Incorporated by reference from our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after December 31, 2023 (excluding the information under the subheading “Pay Versus Performance”).

Incorporated by reference from our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after December 31, 2023.

Incorporated by reference from our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after December 31, 2023.

Incorporated by reference from our Proxy Statement for our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days after December 31, 2023.

									56

PART IV

(a) The following documents are filed as part of this report:

									57

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of PayPal Holdings, Inc.

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of PayPal Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the related consolidated statements of income (loss), of comprehensive income (loss), of stockholders’ equity and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, including the related notes and financial statement schedule listed in the index appearing under Item 15(a)(2) (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.

Basis for Opinions

The Company's management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

									58

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future period

Showing the first 8K of 311K characters. Open the full section

None.

INDEX OF EXHIBITS

									123

									124

+ Indicates a management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.

† Certain portions of this exhibit have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(b)(10)(iv) of Regulation S‑K.

^ Schedules and exhibits have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(a)(5) of Regulation S-K. The Registrant agrees to furnish supplementally a copy of any omitted schedule or exhibit to the SEC upon request.

									125

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, on February 7, 2024.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Alex Chriss, Jamie Miller, Bimal Patel, Brian Y. Yamasaki and Hasitha Verma, and each or any one of them, each with the power of substitution, his or her attorney-in-fact, to sign any amendments to this report, with exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, hereby ratifying and confirming all that each of said attorneys-in-fact, or his or her substitute or substitutes, may do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities indicated on February 7, 2024.

Additional Directors