''The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth'' (2004) is a book by former

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...

marketing executive Eric M. Jackson.

Description

''The PayPal Wars'' is an insider's perspective on the people and events that helped create the company, and its acquisition by

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

in 2002. The book recounts

's clashes with lawyers, regulators, and the

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

. Many of PayPal's founding employees went on to start other companies like

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

Tesla Motors Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Tesla designs and manufactures electric vehicles (electric cars and electric truck, trucks), battery energy storage from ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, and

Yelp, Inc. Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in San F ...

; they would become known as the

PayPal Mafia The "PayPal Mafia" is a group of former PayPal employees and founders who have since founded and/or developed additional technology companies such as Tesla, Inc., LinkedIn, Palantir Technologies, SpaceX, Affirm, Slide, Kiva, YouTube, Yelp, an ...

Critical reception

''The PayPal Wars'' received acclaim for its writing style and personal narrative. ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...

'' said the book is "an absorbing insider's story." ''

Reason Magazine ''Reason'' is an American libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 50,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the ''Chicago Tribune''. History ''Reas ...

'' said that it "reads like a spy novel." ''

Tech Central Station ''TCS Daily'' was an online magazine with commentary and analysis on current news from a free-market perspective. It was active between 2000 and 2010. History and profile ''TCS'' is an initialism that now stands for "Technology, Commerce, Society ...

'' said that "It's rare that a business book is a page turner, but ''The PayPal Wars'' is."

Tom Peters Thomas J. Peters (born November 7, 1942) is an American writer on business management practices, best known for ''In Search of Excellence'' (co-authored with Robert H. Waterman Jr.) Life and education Peters was born in Baltimore, Maryland. ...

said ''The PayPal Wars'' "gives the best description of 'business strategy' unfolding in a world changing at warp speed."

Editions

*''The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth'',

World Ahead Publishing ''WND'' (formerly ''WorldNetDaily'') is an American far-right fake news website. It is known for promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories, including the false claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:PayPal Wars PayPal 2004 non-fiction books Books about computer and internet companies Information economy