Changes

==History==

==History==

In December 1998, Ken Howery, Luke Nosek, Max Levchin and Peter Thiel founded the company Confinity. Their goal was to provide software which could be used by individuals to transfer funds. Meanwhile, [[Elon Musk]] was working on his own online banking company, X.com.  In 2000, Musk initiated a merger between the two companies, and they became PayPal. Although originally intended to offer borderless currency which was free from governmental controls, those borders and controls were soon forced upon the company. Nonetheless, despite this and early issues with hackers, scam artists and organized crime, Paypal quickly took off as the online bank of choice for many. In July 2002, the rapidly growing company was bought by [[ebay]] for the price of $1.5 billion. This acquisition helped Paypal to grow even more, and the two companies formed a profitable relationship.<ref name="richtopia">https://richtopia.com/companies/history-paypal-infographic-included</ref><ref>https://money.howstuffworks.com/paypal3.htm</ref><br />

In December 1998, Ken Howery, Luke Nosek, Max Levchin and [[Peter Thiel]] founded the company Confinity. Their goal was to provide software which could be used by individuals to transfer funds. Meanwhile, [[Elon Musk]] was working on his own online banking company, X.com.  In 2000, Musk initiated a merger between the two companies, and they became PayPal. Although originally intended to offer borderless currency which was free from governmental controls, those borders and controls were soon forced upon the company. Nonetheless, despite this and early issues with hackers, scam artists and organized crime, Paypal quickly took off as the online bank of choice for many. In July 2002, the rapidly growing company was bought by [[ebay]] for the price of $1.5 billion. This acquisition helped Paypal to grow even more, and the two companies formed a profitable relationship.<ref name="richtopia">https://richtopia.com/companies/history-paypal-infographic-included</ref><ref>https://money.howstuffworks.com/paypal3.htm</ref><br />

In 2018, ebay chose to separate from Paypal, making it once again an independent and publicly traded company. It has continued to grow since then.<ref name="richtopia">https://richtopia.com/companies/history-paypal-infographic-included</ref><ref>https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/ebay-paypal-broke</ref>

In 2018, ebay chose to separate from Paypal, making it once again an independent and publicly traded company. It has continued to grow since then.<ref name="richtopia">https://richtopia.com/companies/history-paypal-infographic-included</ref><ref>https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/ebay-paypal-broke</ref>