The rumor mill called this one correctly.
As sources foreshadowed in recent days, eBay announced today that it has agreed to acquire Braintree, a fast-growing and well-respected global payment platform.
The deal is worth a reported $800 million in cash.
“Braintree is a perfect fit with PayPal,” said eBay President and CEO John Donahoe in a statement issued to the press today. “Bill Ready and his team add complementary talent and technology that we believe will help accelerate PayPal’s global leadership in mobile payments. Together, we expect that PayPal and Braintree also will accelerate our leadership in supporting developers who are creating innovative solutions for next generation commerce startups.”
Braintree says its payment platform powers next generation innovators such as Airbnb, OpenTable, TaskRabbit and Uber, which are creating new consumer experiences and disrupting legacy business models.
Once the acquisition is completed, eBay explained this morning, Braintree will continue to operate as a separate service within PayPal under the continued leadership of Braintree CEO Bill Ready, who will report to PayPal President David Marcus.
Braintree’s management team and employees are expected to stay in place.
