PayPal

San Jose CA. Originally Confinity (Peter Thiel + Max Levchin, 1998) merged with X.com (Elon Musk, 1999). Renamed PayPal. Acquired by eBay $1.5B 2002. IPO 2015 (spun off from eBay). Flagship product: online payments. Origin company of the PayPal Mafia — 20+ subsequent billion-dollar companies founded by alumni. Stanford and UIUC heavily represented in founding team.