Thursday, November 21, 2019

Honey Acquired By PayPal For $4 Billion

In one of the biggest acquisitions out of Southern California's technology startup industry in recent years, Los Angeles-based Honey Science Corporation, which develops a savings discovery and price tracking tool, has been acquired by PayPal, in a deal worth approximately $4 billion. PayPal said the acquisition will help it in its efforts in digital commerce, and add an "extensive" set of consumer commerce capabilities to the company. Honey was founded in 2012 by George Ruan and Ryan Hudson. PayPal said that the acquisition will "transform the shopping experience" for its consumers and also increase sales and customer engagement for its merchants. Honey now has approximately 17 million monthly active users. According to PayPal, following the acquisition, Honey will continue to be headquartered in Los Angeles, and retain its brand, with Ruan and Hudson continuing to lead the team, reporting to PayPal's global consumer product and technology organization. PayPal said that Honey was profitable on a net income basis in 2018, and that it expects the acquisition to be acrretive to its non-GAAP earnings per share in 2021.

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