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In its largest acquisition to date, PayPal is now the new owner of Honey Science Corporation.
PayPal acquired Honey for $4 billion and will now gain access to the company’s shopping capabilities to track prices on products, try different promotional codes and more. Honey’s 17 million active users will now join PayPal’s more than 300 million active users. The 24 million merchants that work with PayPal can now use Honey’s tools to target consumers and give them tailored offers. Co-founders George Ruan and Ryan Hudson will stay on at Honey and report to John Kunze, svp of global consumer product and technology at PayPal. In 2018, the company was profitable, growing at more than 100% year over year, with revenue at more than $100 million.
“Honey’s vision has always been to give consumers the tools they need to make the best decisions with their money,” Ruan said in a statement. “PayPal shares that vision and together we can build powerful commerce capabilities that create real value for both consumers and retailers around the world.”
Honey originally functioned as an extension on web browsers, giving consumers the chance to try out different promotional codes. In 2017, the company announced Droplist, letting consumers track prices among many retailers, including Amazon. Honey’s competitors include Ebates, now known as Rakuten. In October, Google announced a series of new features to Google Shopping, including price tracking, which lets consumers track products and receive an email when the price drops.
PayPal previously made moves in the acquisition space with checkout options, acquiring Braintree and Venmo for $800 million in 2013. Now, the payments brand is entering into a more murky space in ecommerce, acquiring purchase intent from consumers, a rewards program and moving up in the purchase funnel. Honey will remain in Los Angeles, and the deal is expected to close in early 2020.
https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/paypal-acquires-honey-for-4-billion/