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eBay acquires Zong for $240M

eBay Inc. (EBAY) has reached a deal to acquire Zong for $240 million in cash. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company provides mobile payments through carrier billing channels and has deals with more than 250 operators around the world.
eBay plans to combine bring Zong’s assets into PayPal to expand its mobile reach and hopes to win new business with the new team joining the fold.
Zong is currently available in 21 languages across 45 countries and PayPal counts more than 100 million active accounts and 9 million merchants worldwide. Zong enables wireless subscribers to enter their mobile phone numbers to make purchases on their mobile devices or computers. After Zong verifies the number, it fulfills payment on the customer’s account with their carrier.
“Commerce is changing. With mobile phones, we walk around with a mall in our pockets. PayPal helps to make money work better for customers in this new commerce reality — no matter how they want to pay or what device they’re using,” said Scott Thompson, president of PayPal. “We believe that Zong will strengthen this value by helping us reach the more than 5 billion people who have mobile phones, giving them more choice and security when they pay.”
As recently as two weeks ago, PayPal revised its projected mobile revenue for this year to $3 billion.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Matt Kapko
Matt Kapko
Former Feature writer for RCR Wireless NewsCurrently writing for CIOhttp://www.CIO.com/ Matt Kapko specializes in the convergence of social media, mobility, digital marketing and technology. As a senior writer at CIO.com, Matt covers social media and enterprise collaboration. Matt is a former editor and reporter for ClickZ, RCR Wireless News, paidContent and mocoNews, iMedia Connection, Bay City News Service, the Half Moon Bay Review, and several other Web and print publications. Matt lives in a nearly century-old craftsman in Long Beach, Calif. He enjoys traveling and hitting the road with his wife, going to shows, rooting for the 49ers, gardening and reading.