Billpoint
![]() | |
Industry | Financial services |
---|---|
Founded | October 1998 |
Founders |
|
Defunct | 2003 |
Successor | eBay |
Headquarters | |
Website | www.billpoint.com |
Billpointwas the name of a person-to-personmoney transfer servicefounded in 1998, and purchased in 1999 by online auctioneereBay.[1]
History
[edit]Billpoint was founded in 1998 by S. Young Lee, Hope Chen, Will Chen, Jason May, Ian Flint and Jay Shen, with headquarters inRedwood City, California.The company obtained venture funding fromSequoia Capitalin February 1999,[2]and later that year was purchased byeBay;its website was taken offline while integration into eBay's auction service took place. It reappeared in 2000 when it was relaunched as a joint venture withWells Fargobank.[3]
During this interval, online payment servicePayPalwas launched, rapidly becoming popular with eBay's customers. Billpoint and eBay spent much of the next two years trying to overtake PayPal, but with mixed results.[3][4]
In July 2002,eBayCEOMeg Whitmanagreed to the acquisition of PayPal with its CEOPeter Thiel.When the deal was closed in October 2002, eBay began the process of phasing out Billpoint.[4]The shutdown was completed in early 2003.[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Beth Cox (December 16, 2002)."eBay Bidding Bye Bye to Billpoint".Internetnews.com.Archived fromthe originalon December 17, 2002.
- ^John Schneider (May 7, 2003)."Interview: Billpoint Founder Jason May on eBay, Open Source".WTN News.Archived fromthe originalon October 21, 2013.
- ^abEric M. Jackson (2006).The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth.World Ahead Publishing.ISBN978-0-9778984-3-5.
- ^abTroy Wolverton (July 8, 2002)."Billpoint failure a lesson for eBay?".CNET News.Archived fromthe originalon February 8, 2013.
- ^Ina Steiner (December 16, 2002)."eBay to Phase Out Billpoint Online Payment Service".EcommerceBytes.Archivedfrom the original on February 4, 2018.
- 1999 mergers and acquisitions
- Defunct financial services companies of the United States
- EBay acquisitions
- EBay
- Financial services companies disestablished in 2003
- Financial services companies established in 1998
- Online financial services companies of the United States
- Payment service providers
- United States online company stubs
- Money stubs