Discussion Thread - PayPal buys Afterpay, page-11

The issue with Paypal is that it is clunky to use. It also is a payment platform that can be difficult to interact with. I recently closed my Paypal account as I had many monthly subscriptions coming out of my bank, via Paypal, each month. Closing the account was extremely difficult.

So firstly, the UX/UI needs to be updated to meet the market expectations. The way the market interacts with apps/websites needs to match what customer feel on the Facebook, Instagram, Spotify etc. Paypay is a long way from that.

Lets presume they fix this UX/UI issue, they then need to implement upgrades/updates to the platform operation (ie. fortnightly payments and receive product immediately). Paypal would also need to ensure the Merchants are settled in similar terms to APT (ie. 2 days).

In Australia, they have missed the boat. APT is so far along with the key Merchants that it will be difficult and/or very expensive to catch up.

With the network effect underway in the US, we are only a few months away from the train having departed the station and it will be too hard to catch up.

First mover advantage and network effect! Google those terms...

Yes, APT is expensive but think of how big this will be in three years and how valuable this ASSET will be to a large global payments player. Goldmans has a 30-50% probability of acquisition... Look at the current market cap of Visa for example, even at 5x current SP we would still be a rounding error on their balance sheet!

Do not underestimate how big this can be.