Just a browser plugin, but PayPal spent $ 4 billion to acquire Honey

According to a TechCrunch report on Wednesday, PayPal agreed to spend up to $ 4 billion to acquire Honey Science Corporation, the company that created the e-commerce browser plugin, Honey.

The Honey plugin will notify online shoppers of the bargains or discount codes they are viewing, as well as compare prices, price alerts and price list history in the hope of helping users know when They should buy it. In addition, this plugin also has a reward program, Honey Gold.

But are these features worth the $ 4 billion that PayPal has just spent acquiring a browser plugin?

The answer is probably yes. Honey claims to have 17 million active monthly users and the ability to apply their technology to PayPal and its Venmo subsidiary with 300 million users. Honey also said that their plugin operates on 30,000 different e-commerce sites and has saved 17 million shoppers $ 2 billion.

According to TechCrunch, PayPal can use Honey data for shoppers to participate in the discount code game (instead of competing with other payment service providers like Apple Pay, which is expanding its reach). bank support). The deal also helps integrate Honey into PayPal’s 24 million network of users.

Currently, Honey has a profit and revenue of about 100 million USD in 2018 compared to only 32 million USD. Even so, the $ 4 billion spent to acquire the company still makes it one of the biggest technology acquisitions of 2019.

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman told TechCrunch: ” Honey is one of the most significant acquisitions in PayPal history. It offers a vast portfolio of services to simplify your shopping experience. consumption, at the same time making it more relevant and rewarding. The combination of Honey and PayPal adds significant angles and implications to our platform . ”

However, this deal has made many people worried when it happened at a disadvantageous time: Brexit is happening, the US-China trade war, and the impeachment process against Mr. Trump is taking place. However, in an earlier interview, Mr. Schulman was optimistic: ” From our perspective, we see a strong growth. Everyone is anticipating a recession, but we never saw it in any number . ”

Refer to Gizmodo