PayPal Holdings, Inc. is a global leader in digital payments, providing a platform for online money transfers, e-commerce, and payment processing services. The company was founded in December 1998 as Confinity by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek. In 2000, Confinity merged with Elon Musk''s X.com, and in 2001, the company changed its name to PayPal. PayPal was acquired by eBay in 2002, but later spun off as a separate, publicly traded company in 2015.