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PYPL · Forward model · Transaction revenues · Bull case

What has to happen in Transaction revenues

Model as of

This page changes Transaction revenues inside the complete PYPL model. Every other vertical, corporate programme and valuation assumption stays in the selected portfolio case.

PYPL forward model
Horizon
Consolidated fair value $82.39 all other verticals held in this portfolio case
Final-quarter revenue $10.41B 91% of company revenue
Explicit segment contribution $54.27B EBITDA less segment capex, before corporate items

The cost line does the work the take rate will not. Management is committed to at least $1.5B of gross run-rate savings over two to three years, roughly 40% of it from AI adoption, with ~$400M landing by the end of 2026 - against a non-transaction expense base of $2,393M a quarter. Take-rate compression eases a little faster than the base as branded checkout stabilises at low single digits, margin runs 1.5 points better, and the exit holds 8.5x rather than de-rating again. What this case does NOT reach is a return to double-digit revenue growth or a network multiple: branded checkout is guided to low single digits and the take rate is still falling. Nor does it capture the buyback - $6B guided against a $54B market cap, 111M shares already retired in a year - because the engine holds share count flat.

Transaction revenues

Basis quarter$7.83B
Final quarter$10.41B
Implied CAGR+6%
Final revenue mix91%

Ninety per cent of PayPal, and literally units times price: the payment volume that crosses the platform multiplied by the take rate PayPal publishes on exactly that definition. Volume is compounding - $486.4B in the basis quarter, +10% year over year and +9% currency-neutral, with Braintree/PSP mid-teens and Venmo TPV +14% - and the take rate is falling just as reliably, 1.68% a year ago against 1.61% now, because the volume growing fastest is the unbranded processing PayPal earns least on. Revenue growth is the residual between the two and has been running 3-7%.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $7.52B Reported
2025 Q4 $7.82B Reported
2026 Q1 $7.50B Reported
2026 Q2 $7.83B Reported
Branded checkout online (PayPal, Pay with Venmo, eBay)Branded offline - debit cards and tap to payVenmo P2P and Venmo debitUnbranded card processing through Braintree (PSP), enterprise and SMBCross-border, currency conversion, instant transfer and crypto fees
Units 487790/qtr growing +2.0% per quarter TPV in $M, deseasonalised: reported $486,448M / the 0.997 Q2 factor. A unit driver never sees the base.
Price per unit $16100 drifting −0.8% per quarter Revenue per $M of TPV. $7,832M / $486,448M = 1.61%, the take rate the deck prints for 2Q'26.
Transaction revenues

Latest: $10.41B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2021Q2 $5.80B
2021Q3 $5.61B
2021Q4 $6.38B
2022Q1 $6.00B
2022Q2 $6.27B
2022Q3 $6.23B
2022Q4 $6.70B
2023Q1 $6.36B
2023Q2 $6.56B
2023Q3 $6.65B
2023Q4 $7.28B
2024Q1 $7.03B
2024Q2 $7.15B
2024Q3 $7.07B
2024Q4 $7.59B
2025Q1 $7.02B
2025Q2 $7.44B
2025Q3 $7.52B
2025Q4 $7.82B
2026Q1 $7.50B
2026Q2 $7.83B
2026Q3E $7.87B
2026Q4E $8.43B
2027Q1E $8.01B
2027Q2E $8.32B
2027Q3E $8.36B
2027Q4E $8.95B
2028Q1E $8.49B
2028Q2E $8.82B
2028Q3E $8.86B
2028Q4E $9.47B
2029Q1E $8.99B
2029Q2E $9.33B
2029Q3E $9.37B
2029Q4E $10.02B
2030Q1E $9.50B
2030Q2E $9.86B
2030Q3E $9.90B
2030Q4E $10.58B
2031Q1E $10.03B
2031Q2E $10.41B

Assumptions & reasoning

  • Units here are millions of dollars of total payment volume and price per unit is revenue per $1M of TPV, so 487,790 x $16,100 is the 1.61% take rate on $487.8B of deseasonalised volume. The engine reapplies the seasonal factor on top, which is why the units input is deseasonalised and the price input is the as-reported take rate.
  • The 39.9% margin is transaction margin after volume-based expense and is ASSUMED, not disclosed. Volume-based expenses of $4,782M (transaction expense $4,385M plus transaction and credit losses $397M) are reported consolidated only; this model puts all of them on this line except the $74M credit loss the deck breaks out, which sits on the other line. The split is constrained to reconcile to the disclosed $3,900M of transaction margin dollars and must not be read as a company disclosure.
  • Seasonality is derived, not disclosed: ratio-to-centred-moving-average over the 21 disclosed quarters in two windows, giving [0.974, 0.997, 0.987, 1.041] with a window-to-window spread of 0.005. It decomposes cleanly - TPV factors [0.974, 1.002, 0.997, 1.026] times take-rate factors [1.001, 0.994, 0.988, 1.018] reproduce them within 0.003 - so the December lift is roughly two thirds holiday volume and one third holiday mix.
  • The Q4 factor has been decaying: 1.062 in 2021, then 1.043, 1.047, 1.048 and 1.026 in 2025, and almost all of the decay is in the take-rate half as PayPal spent on branded co-marketing and BNPL through the holiday. The risk in the published factor is therefore a Q4 overshoot rather than an undershoot; a creation judging that premium structurally gone would use 1.028 and give up about $110M of 2026 Q4 revenue.
  • US TPV grew 14% and international TPV 0% currency-neutral in the basis quarter, and international revenue fell 3% currency-neutral. The growth in this line is domestic and PSP-weighted, which is exactly why the take rate keeps falling.
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