If You’d Invested $100 in PayPal Stock 10 Years Ago, Here’s What It Would Be Worth Today
Written by
Jacob Wade
Edited by
Amber Barkley
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PayPal is the most popular digital payments company, with over 400 million users and over 6 billion payments processed per quarter. But while the online payment behemoth is the clear leader in the space, investors haven’t seen the massive growth expected from a company like PayPal.
Here’s how PayPal stock has done over the last 10 years as an independent company and how much $100 invested in PayPal stock would be worth today.
Next, find out how to grow your wealth by investing $100 a month.
Why PayPal Stock Went Up, Then Way Down
PayPal was once an independent company, going public in 2022 as the leader in digital payments at the time. It grew rapidly, then was scooped up by online auction giant eBay just six months after going public.
After 13 years as part of eBay, PayPal was split off as an independent company, with shares of stock priced at just $38 per share on July 6, 2015. Price growth was slow, with the stock rising just 6% that first year. After an earnings beat in July 2017, PayPal stock was on the rise, jumping an additional 60% over the next year. The stock would rise about 20% per year until the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 — and prices really took off.
From March 2020 until July 2021, PayPal stock rose nearly 250%. With online business growing rapidly due to shutdowns, PayPal was processing more payments than ever, and active users grew until things peaked in 2022.
Then PayPal stock started to decline. First, eBay removed PayPal as its preferred payment method due to competition, and this hurt PayPal’s reputation. Then in 2022, active users started to decline due to mounting competitions from apps like CashApp.
And with rising interest rates coming in 2022, revenue dropped significantly, and PayPal stock — along with other growth stocks — started to plummet.
Your Investment 10 Years Ago and Today
If you invested $100 in PayPal stock when it split off from eBay, about 10 years ago, it would now be worth about $235 — PayPal stock is trading around $89.60 as of Jan. 21, 2025.
This is still a solid 2.3 times your money invested over a 10 year period. If you reinvested your PayPal dividends, you’d have an even larger gain.
Comparing PayPal stock vs. the S&P 500 over the last 10 years, you’d have made more money by investing in the S&P 500. PayPal is up around 160%, while the S&P 500 is up over 190% during that time frame.
Should You Buy PayPal Stock?
PayPal has been hurt by low margins, declining revenue and a declining user base. The stock is 70% down from its high prices in 2021, and it is looking more like a value stock than a growth stock these days.
But recently, margins have improved. There was a change in leadership in 2023 with new CEO Alex Chriss, and PayPal has been rebranding to become a full commerce platform — not just a payments app.
PayPal is now trading at a 26.7 price-to-earnings ratio — which, for a tech company, is rather low. In fact, this is a lower P/E ratio than the S&P 500, which is trading around a 30 P/E/ ratio.
PayPal may be a good buy right now, but only the future will tell. If management can successfully rebrand, increase margins and grow the active user base to make PayPal more profitable, there’s a good chance the stock will benefit.
As always, past performance does not indicate future results, and any stock price predictions are not a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. It’s a good idea to speak with a licensed financial advisor before making any investments decisions.
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