PayPal Buys Honey for $4 Billion to Expand Shopping Reach
PayPal acquires deal-finding platform Honey for $4 billion to move earlier into the customer shopping journey. The deal allows PayPal to integrate price tracking and rewards directly into its existing services.
PayPal agrees to acquire Honey Science Corporation for $4 billion in an all-cash deal that marks the payment giant's largest acquisition to date. This strategic move allows PayPal to insert itself earlier in the shopping journey rather than just competing at the checkout page. By bringing Honey's technology in-house, PayPal aims to connect its massive network of 300 million users with Honey's 17 million monthly active users.
Honey operates as a popular browser extension and mobile app that automatically finds and applies the best promo codes at checkout while tracking price histories. The platform also features a rewards program called Honey Gold and appeals heavily to millennial shoppers. PayPal plans to integrate these money-saving tools directly into both the PayPal and Venmo applications to make digital commerce more affordable and engaging.
The acquisition also provides significant benefits for PayPal's 24 million merchant partners by enabling them to offer highly targeted and personalized promotions to drive new business. Additionally, PayPal Credit may soon be integrated into Honey to help consumers finance larger purchases. Ultimately, the combination of these two platforms creates a more comprehensive shopping and payments ecosystem.