PayPal Holdings

Almost $20 trillion in revenue—and a record-breaking $1.87 trillion in profits. Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive list of the biggest companies in America.

Fortune 500

The 300 companies on this year’s list brought in over $12.6 trillion in revenue for the latest 12 months, with the median revenue figure at $22 billion.

America's Most Innovative Companies

Leaders in all industries rely more than ever on Big Tech—and appreciate the giants that deliver, at scale, without drama.

World's Most Admired Companies

Industries included in the sector are advertising, diversified outsourcing services, and financial data services.

Fortune Sector Leaders: Business Services

The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

The 200 companies on this list are transforming industries from the inside out.

The 26th edition of the list shows how much esteem Big Tech giants command among other business leaders.

The 25th Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies list suggests that tech giants’ peers respect them as much as ever.

The 300 companies on this list are transforming industries from the inside out.

The companies on this list are mobilizing the creative tools of capitalism to help solve social problems.

CTW 2023-PayPal

As digital payments systems have grown, so have the opportunities for bad actors to do—and pay for—bad things. PayPal, which hosts more than 20 billion transactions each year, uses AI to identify payments that enable criminal behavior. The goal is to “create a safer platform for our customers and a safer digital world for all,” company executive Aaron Karczmer told Fortune in an emailed statement. The technology detects purchases related to terrorist activities, drug sales, human trafficking, money laundering, and more. PayPal, which generated $27.5 billion in revenue last year, then works with law enforcement to investigate suspected crimes.

Change the World

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

Just as it dominates our economy, Big Tech now dominates Fortune’s annual ranking of corporate reputation.

WMAC-2022-49-Paypal

Fortune collaborated with the Diligent Institute to rank the most innovative boards of directors among S&P 500.

Modern Boards 2022 PayPal

Fintech giant PayPal scored high on our rankings for age dispersion, board independence, and board expertise. John Donahoe, president and CEO of Nike, is PayPal's board chairman. The company counts current president and CEO Dan Schulman among its directors, as well as Ann Sarnof, CEO of WarnerMedia Studios &amp; Networks Group; Enrique Lores, CEO of HP; Gail McGovern, CEO of the American Red Cross; and the former CEOs of Freddie Mac and AT&amp;T. Belinda Johnson, former COO of Airbnb, and Rodney Atkins, a former IBM executive, are also board members. 
 
PayPal has in recent years increased its efforts to invest in underserved communities. The company has spent $510 million since 2020 to fund Black- and Latinx-owned financial institutions and to back early-stage VC funds led by Black and Latinx managers, with the goal of closing the racial wealth gap. 
 
Editor's note: This writeup has been corrected to include Nike CEO and president John Donahoe.

Fortune Modern Board 25

Fortune's annual list dedicated to the idea that business is uniquely suited to address society’s biggest challenges.

CTW.1122. PayPal

Like so many other business leaders last winter, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman didn’t believe Vladimir Putin would actually send Russian forces into Ukraine. “I thought for sure there would be politics that would intervene,” Schulman recently told Fortune. So when infantry and tanks barreled across the border toward Kyiv on Feb. 24, Schulman and his team faced a distressing surprise, and a flood of tough tasks. 
 
Job one was making sure employees and customers’ balances were safe on both sides of the border. (Russia and Ukraine together accounted for about half of 1% of PayPal’s revenue in 2021.) The company quickly shut down its Russia operations. But far more urgent was the challenge of extending a lifeline to the swelling numbers of Ukrainians displaced by the war. Refugees would need humanitarian aid; and both those who left and those who stayed would need to access money even as their banks were shuttered, hacked, or destroyed. PayPal and its partners would have to quickly vet a swath of pop-up Ukraine-focused charities; verify the identities of those who said they were displaced; and put fraud protections in place for users who were now hundreds or thousands of miles from their homes. 
 
Experience and global reach made those tasks less daunting. PayPal has long-standing relationships with central banks and regulators worldwide, including in Ukraine. Its donation platform, PayPal Giving, had already been used by some 400 million customers and merchants before the war broke out. Under normal circumstances, building a person-to-person payment network that could reach hundreds of thousands of people would take nine months to a year; PayPal had one up and running in Ukraine in nine days. “I told the team, like, let’s move mountains,” Schulman recalls. 
 
PayPal has certainly moved an enormous amount of much needed money. Through late September, its customers used the platform to raise more than $600 million for relief efforts in Ukraine. PayPal has also helped Ukrainian citizens receive and send another $330 million in person-to-person payments and money transfers. And it has tallied almost 300,000 new Ukrainian account sign-ups since the war began. Someday those may become paying customers, but that’s a question for a more peaceful day: PayPal is waiving all money transfer and remittance fees for Ukrainian accounts through Dec. 31.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

After a year in which humanity leaned more heavily than ever on tech giants, see which companies topped Fortune's ranking of corporate reputation.

WMAC 2021-50-PayPal

These companies use the creative tools of capitalism—including the profit motive—to address society’s unmet needs.

CTW 2021-07-PayPal

Since George Floyd’s murder, PayPal has deployed $510 million toward closing the racial wealth gap, mostly by making deposits in Black- and Latinx-owned financial institutions and backing early-stage VC funds led by Black and Latinx managers. The goal is giving communities of color more capital to support entrepreneurship, which creates wealth—for the entrepreneurs and their backers alike.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

F500-2021-134-PayPal

The momentum of customers embracing digital payments propelled PayPal up 48 spots on this year's list. In fact, 2020 was the strongest year in PayPal’s history so far, with 72.7 million net new accounts, total payment volume of $936 billion, revenue growth of 20.7%, and profit growth of 70.9%. For crypto converts, the company recently added a way for users to buy, sell, and hold crypto in their Venmo app.

Collectively, the ranked companies produced a three-year average shareholder return of 33%, vs. 19% for the S&P 500.

FGC-2021-PayPal_Honey_Macys_Coupons

100 Fastest-Growing Companies

For an astounding 13th straight year, Apple claims the top spot in Fortune’s annual ranking of corporate reputation, based on a survey of almost 3,800 executives, directors, and analysts.

Explore this year's ranking of the 50 companies with the best long-term growth potential.

Future 50-2020-PayPal

The former subsidiary of eBay has definitely come into its own in its past five years of independence. Poised to reap the benefits of consumers’ growing reliance on digital payments, PayPal has excelled during the coronavirus pandemic, growing revenues nearly 20% in the first three quarters of the year—exceeding even its average three-year growth rate of 18%. Now one of the largest small-business lenders, PayPal is also expanding its offerings to include buying and selling cryptocurrency, both through its flagship product and its peer-to-peer payments app, Venmo.

The Future 50

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

F500-2020-182-PayPal-Holdings

The online payments company is available in more than 200 markets around the world and owns mobile payment service Venmo.

As we face unprecedented collective challenges, cooperation has become a business superpower.

03.CTW20.Paypal

Last fall, the digital payment company spent tens of millions of dollars to raise its workers’ wages and lower the costs of their benefits. This spring, as the pandemic led to tens of millions of layoffs, CEO Dan Schulman (at left in photo, with PayPal employees in Omaha) pledged that all PayPal jobs would be safe from COVID-related cuts. The company also played a major role in bolstering other people’s security: It helped some customers get faster access to their coronavirus stimulus payments, by waiving the 1% fees it usually charges to rapidly cash payroll and government checks. 
 
In a crisis, “if you put your employees first and you put your customers first, then nobody forgets that, and you come out of this in a really strong position,” <a href="https://fortune.com/2020/04/20/paypal-ceo-dan-schulman-coronavirus-digital-payments-venmo-money/">Schulman told Fortune </a>in April. PayPal’s subsequent performance has borne out his argument. The company in July reported its strongest quarter ever as an independent company: Second-quarter revenue jumped 22% from a year earlier, to $5.3 billion, with profit nearly doubled, to $1.5 billion.

Collectively, the ranked companies produced a three-year average shareholder return of 19%, vs. 11% for the S&P 500.

Fastest Growing Companies-2020-78-PayPal

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2019 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

Fortune's proprietary methodology allows us to zero in on the 50 global firms that are best poised to deliver—and continue delivering—above average gains.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2018 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

Welcome to the inaugural Fortune Future 50, our new ranking of companies best positioned for breakout growth.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

Here’s our look at 57 companies that do well by doing good.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2017 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 63rd running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 62nd running of the list.

Here’s our look at 50 companies that do well by doing good.

Fastest-growing Companies

Revenue 3 Yr Growth Rank

Revenue 3 Yr Annual Growth Rate

EPS 3 Yr Growth Rank

EPS 3 Yr Annual Growth Rate

Total Return 3 Yr Rank

Total Return 3 Yr Annual Rate (Through June 28, 2024)

Beat S&P 500 3 Yr Return (10%)

Current Streak

Years on List

Sector

Change The World

Impact Segment

Prior Year Rank

Future 50

Overall Score

Industry

Current All-Star Rank

Previous All-Star Rank

Industry Rank

Previous Industry Rank

Innovation

People Management

Use of Corporate Assets

Social Responsibility

Quality of Management

Financial Soundness

Long-Term Investment Value

Quality of Products/Services

Global Competitiveness

Culture rank

Process rank

Product rank

Years on list

Previous rank

Key Financials (last Fiscal Year)

Revenues ($M)

Profits ($M)

Assets ($M)

Total Stockholder Equity ($M)

Profit Ratios

Profit as % of Revenues

Profits as % of Assets

Profits as % of Stockholder Equity

Earnings Per Share (last Fiscal Year)

Earnings Per Share ($)

EPS % Change (from prior fiscal year)

EPS % Change (5 year annual rate)

EPS % Change (10 year annual rate)

Total Return

Total Return to Investors (last year)

Total Return to Investors (5 year, annualized)

Total Return to Investors (10 year, annualized)

Q1 2025

Q4 2024

PayPal Holdings (PYPL): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

legacy

paypal holdings

PayPal Holdings (PYPL): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings | Fortune

Jessica Mathews

Peter Thiel’s protégés: a common thread runs through Trump’s tech team

/2025/05/21/peter-thiel-silicon-valley-trump-administration-elon-musk-jd-vance/

Tom Metcalf

Bloomberg

U.K. moves forward with plans to regulate buy-now, pay-later firms

/europe/2025/05/19/uk-moves-forward-regulate-buy-now-pay-later-firms-klarna-clearpay-zilch-paypal/

Sharon Goldman

The invisible tech revolution poised to make in-chat AI shopping real

/2025/05/15/mcp-model-context-protocol-anthropic-ai-retail-revolution-shopping-ecommerce-ai-agents/

Fortune Editors

Fortune 500 Power Moves: Which executives gained and lost power this week, April 26-May 2, 2025

/article/fortune-500-power-moves-april-26-may-2/

Emma Burleigh

From dorm rooms to boardrooms: This U.S. college has created more billionaires than anywhere else, including Mark Zuckerberg and Jamie Dimon

/2025/03/04/gen-z-colleges-billionaires-harvard-zuckerberg-mit-stanford-nyu/

https://fortune.com/2025/05/21/peter-thiel-silicon-valley-trump-administration-elon-musk-jd-vance/?itm_source=parsely-api

https://fortune.com/2025/03/04/gen-z-colleges-billionaires-harvard-zuckerberg-mit-stanford-nyu/?itm_source=parsely-api

Alexei Oreskovic

Fortune Archives: The PayPal Mafia still rules Silicon Valley

https://fortune.com/2024/07/21/paypal-mafia-silicon-valley-thiel-hoffman-botha-rabois-musk/?itm_source=parsely-api

Dave Smith

Honey, the popular browser extension promoted by MrBeast and over a thousand YouTube channels, accused of being a scam

https://fortune.com/2024/12/23/honey-extension-scam-drama/?itm_source=parsely-api

Rachel Ventresca

From trophy wife to hedge fund to HENRY, 8 iconic phrases Fortune invented in our 95-year history

https://fortune.com/2025/02/04/fortune-95th-anniversary/?itm_source=parsely-api

https://fortune.com/2025/05/15/mcp-model-context-protocol-anthropic-ai-retail-revolution-shopping-ecommerce-ai-agents/?itm_source=parsely-api

https://fortune.com/europe/2025/05/19/uk-moves-forward-regulate-buy-now-pay-later-firms-klarna-clearpay-zilch-paypal/?itm_source=parsely-api

I was hoping you could kind of set the scene a little bit in terms of we have this unprecedented situation. The economy or much of the economy at least has kind of ground to a standstill. And there are a lot of Americans who are out work. Obviously our lives have changed so much. And one thing that we've been really intrigued by is how that's affecting the financial system. How Americans are interacting with their finances .>> The impacts of the virus are profound. People are sheltering at home. They're not going out. And that's changing the way that all of us work and the way all of us live, and so you're seeing that with a increased use Of all things digital, I'm on the board of Verizon. We're seeing a tremendous increase in the use of wireless services and the use of the Internet in general. And along with that, people are using digital payments in ways that we really never imagined before. Not only is there a tremendous increase The use of digital payments, but the way people are using them are also changing. Yeah. You mentioned some of the increases you're seeing and ways that people are using your services that you haven't seen before. Can you give some examples of that what you're seeing? I mean over the last couple of weeks, the number of new customers that have signed on to PayPal or Venmo. Has increased dramatically. I mean, in some cases doubling. And, you know, in general we're seeing different usage patterns emerge. People are spending a lot more online in the weekend because they are So busy during the week either doing home schooling, on conference calls on video calls, that the weekend allows them to sort of restock from home and so we're seeing a tremendous increase In shopping in verticals like groceries, electronics, home, and gardening. Gaming is exploding. What really intrigues me, and what we're seeing, in ways that we've never have seen before, is this increase of spontaneous giving To- who need the money. Sometimes from friends and sometimes from strangers. Over these peer- to- peer networks like VIMEO or PayPal to help people in need. And these are all kinds of things that just people paying it forward. And we're now doing a hashtag called Then move it forward where, if we see somebody doing a kind of random active kindness, we're giving them $ 20 into their Venmo account and say, and we're saying to them, do even more. Yeah, is it things like people supporting healthcare workers and in funding the equipment or what are some of the examples that you've seen that have moved you the most? Yeah, well, I think it's a range that moves from charities that really need help and these are charities that are doing either community based, food programs for those who need food delivered. You have a lot of charities looking at the distribution of health equipment. Whether it be mask, gloves, sanitizers, that kinda thing. You have funding for vaccines and preventative types of things for the for the virus, but what I'm seeing are people really stepping up to the everyday heroes that are out there right now. Honestly, those are cashiers at grocery stores or pharmacies, first responders, nurses, doctors. Many nurses and doctors can't go back to their homes, or are reluctant to go to their homes, because they're fearful that they might spread the virus to family members. And so they need incremental money to stay at places, whether they be hotels that are opening up, Airbnb that are opening up to them, so that they have actually extra expenses, and cash to be able to do the things that they do day in and day out. That are so important to our society moving forward as it is and this time of need for everybody. When you think back to where things stood in terms of the technology and FinTech, even from the last crisis, so say the last 10 years Are these Technologies in a different place that are set up to help people in a different way than we even was available the last down cycle we had the last financial crisis. Well, I think you've seen an explosion in Mobile over those past 10 years, certainly in The penetration of smart phones. When you have a smart phone, you have all the power of a bank branch in the palm of your hands. And at the same time, you've had an explosion in the capabilities of digital payments. And I think as you think about it as we're sheltering at home and you have people who are unbanked, almost 25 %, As Americans are underserved right now. They may not have a bank account traditionally would have had to have gone to a cash checking location, and now they're sheltering at home. But they can do that right from their mobile phone, they can take a picture of a check deposited onto a platform. Like a PayPal, or a Venmo, or deposit it into a bank account. And so the use of technology now is enabling I think these previously underserved populations to become part of this digital economy. It sounds like you and many other companies right now are talking to the government about ways that you might be able to help in distributing this stimulus, whether it's. In the stimulus checks as well as the small business loans and the paycheck Protection Program. Are you set up to help it and what can you do there? Making sure that those checks get those populations that most need them. Is something that we are working with the government on. We have a lot of information, We have a lot of customers who don't necessarily have bank accounts, but do have accounts with PayPal or Venmo. We need to be sure that there's strong authentication. Which we pride ourselves on to make sure that those checks are going to the right people. Just in terms of the you know, your conversations and thinking about what's possible and how you could help kind of speed access to this the stimulus for people. How new would that be for you in terms of working in that capacity with the government or how unprecedented Would it be to use new technology or the technology that's available to make these electronic payments and get this money out there? We work with different parts of government, whether they be state governments, municipalities, governments around the world to. Do the everyday civic things that people do, whether it be pay taxes, get tax refunds, pay parking tickets, utilities, that kind of thing. So that that has been happening, but doing something at this scale with the federal government. Would be something unprecedented. It's not easy to go do for the government. How we do it and the best way to get that done as rapidly as possible Is still evolving towards what I would consider to be a long term solution. This is clearly not a money making effort on the behalf paper. This is a civic and the right thing to do civic effort and the right thing to do. For all digital platforms, we do have a portion of our customer base who has gotten their tax refunds directly onto our platform and those that have done that. Would be able to also receive those disbursement checks directly as well. Most of these things are not brand new, they're just not at the scale that is being contemplated right now. We're hearing a lot of bad news and a lot of negative trends over the past few weeks, but could, somehow, those trends that you're seeing in this Maybe have a positive effect of potentially decreasing the amount of the underbanked or increasing the amount of access to financial services for different populations. I mean, is there any positive effect that you see coming out of this? I do think as we're seeing a new era of digital payments, that we're not going to go backwards to that, to what was we're not going to be using cash nearly as much. I think we're all gonna be aware of hygiene, going forward. I think the use of QR codes in store is going to continue to increase as we're seeing it increase right now. And I think the more we can move into a digital economy The more inclusive that can be. And we need to be sure that happens because I do think digital forms of payments can be much more time efficient. You don't have to wait in line at a cash checking location. You don't have to wait in line to pay your bills and number two is it can be done. Much less expensively. But sometimes it can cost 2 % to 5 % to cash a check. And all that is, is changing a form of currency from one form to another. And then you've got to pay another fee to pay a bill. If you can do it electronically, I think we can save a tremendous amount of money. For those populations that most need that savings. So, I'm hopeful that this is a tipping point in the way people think about managing and moving money from. Physical into digital because they think that can really drive a tremendous number of benefits to those who most needed and to our economy and society .>> I know you've talked a lot about that. What you're trying to do is not, your priority is not benefiting your PayPal bottom line, right now you're thinking beyond that and how you can help people. But it also sounds like you're seeing a lot of positive business trends for PayPal. And meanwhile, you're hearing a lot of bad stories about business and a lot of negative and stories about declines. Is it possible? Do you think that PayPal will buck that trend and potentially. You know, have a very positive, whether it's you know, the first quarter of this year or just that these months while we're still dealing with these restrictions in this pandemic. I think PayPal has the opportunity, when we Come out of the pandemic, to be a much stronger company than it was coming into it because of all of these trends, but like every company, we're impacted by it, our customers are impacted by it. We support a number of travel companies and different ticketing companies and event companies and And so, we're not immune from some of the trends that are happening. But we're very fortunate in that we have a number of counter trends that are happening the explosion of digital payments, explosion of net new actives. We're doing a number of things right now. To be helpful in this time of crisis. Because I feel like if you put your employees first, we also said we're not gonna lay off any employees because of COVID- 19. But I think if you put your employees first and you put your customers first, then nobody forgets that. And you come out of this in a really strong position Because, you know people are always there and good times for you. It's when they're there and more difficult times that people remember. You know, I meet every single day with my team on video calls like this. And one of the things I'm telling them is like, this is our time is our time to step up to help. We're really fortunate that we're in the position to be able to go and do that. And we need to do everything we can, because people clearly want and need our products and services. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

How PayPal is responding to the coronavirus crisis

Finance

CEO Dan Schulman spoke with Fortune's Jen Wieczner.

CEO Dan Schulman has a conversation with Fortune’s Jen Wieczner.

Dan Schulman has a conversation with Fortune.

Watch: PayPal CEO on coronavirus response

 What is tackling inequality mean to you? And how does all of this fit into a broader framework of a business imperative? It starts a little bit with our obligation as businesses now. I don't think that businesses can shun or avoid the issues of our day. I think we have a moral responsibility to step up, to be a part of this solution, to work with governments, to work with NGOs, to work with academia, to figure out, how can we come together to address these issues? And I think the very best businesses have a mission that inspires their workers, that have values that support them. And our mission at PayPal simply put is to try to democratize financial services, which is a fancy way of saying that we think that managing and moving money should be a right for all citizens, not just a privilege for the affluent. And that's a very inclusive vision. And as such, our primary value at PayPal is diversity and inclusion. There's a great saying that Justin Trudeau's dad actually came up with, which was that diversity is a fact but inclusion is a choice. And I love that saying. I think it's really a beautiful saying. And for us, I think for all of us, that means that we need to step up as leaders and assure that we have inclusive workforces for two reasons. One, the more diverse your workforce, the more successful you will be as a company. There are facts over and over and over that prove that. Diversity of thought, diversity of opinion is incredibly important for a business. And two, if we're going to serve a global community-- and for us it's all citizens-- our workforce should mirror that population, that customer segment that we're trying to serve. And so we take this very, very seriously. We stand up for our values. We act on our values, because if values are just something you have up on a wall, they're not really values. They're propaganda. And if you act on them, then they really are values. 

Insights: PayPal CEO - We Have a Moral Responsibility to Tackle Inequality

Uncategorized

PayPal CEO: Moral Responsibility to Tackle Inequality

CEO Dan Schulman explains why at Fortune’s Global Forum. (October 2018)

What is tackling inequality on dhe it mean to you? And how does all of this fits into a broader framework of a business imperative? It starts a little bit with our obligation as businesses. Now, I don't think that businesses can er, shun or avoid, uh, the issues of our day. I think we have a moral responsibility. Thio Step up to be a part of the solution toe work with governments, toe work with NGOs, toe work with academia to figure out How can we come together to address these issues? And I think the very best businesses I have a mission that inspires their workers that have values that support them. Um, and you know, our mission at PayPal. Simply put it is to try to democratize financial service is, which is a fancy way of saying that we think that managing and moving money should be right for all citizens, not just the privileged for the affluent. And that's a very inclusive vision. And, as such are primary value at PayPal. Is diversity inclusion? There's a great thing, uh, that Justin Trudeau dad actually came up with which waas that diversity is a fact. But inclusion is a choice. And I love that saying, I think it's really a beautiful saying and um, for us, I think for all of us, that means we need to step up as leaders and assure that we have inclusive workforces for two reasons. One, the more diverse your workforce, the more successful you will be a za company. There are facts over and over and over that prove that diversity of thought diversity of opinion is incredibly important for business. And two, if we're gonna serve a global community, and for us, it's all citizens. Our workforce should mirror that population, that customer segment that we're trying to serve. And so we take this very, very seriously. We stand up for our values. We act on our values because it values or just something you have up on a wall. They're not really values their propaganda. And if you act on them than they really are, values

PayPal Holdings

PayPal Holdings in Fortune Rankings

PayPal Holdings stock chart

Videos