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PayPal: founder, CEO and the Musk coup

Confinity, the merger with X.com, a boardroom ouster and a $1.5 billion sale

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What the prospectus says

PayPal’s own record of who did what.

PayPal’s January 2002 prospectus says Thiel co-founded Confinity in December 1998 and was its chief executive and chairman until March 2000, when it merged with X.com. It says he “left shortly thereafter” and rejoined as chief executive in September 2000. He became chairman in May 2000. [1]

The same filing records that in December 1998 Thiel Capital International lent Confinity $100,000, later converted into stock. It lists Thiel, Max Levchin and Elon Musk among the directors. [1]

Musk’s separation agreement, filed with the SEC, records his resignation as chief executive effective September 2000. In 2002 eBay agreed to buy PayPal in an all-stock deal valued at about $1.5 billion. [2][3]

What we can’t tell you. The prospectus does not describe the board fight; accounts of it come from participants. Musk’s side is in the Musk file.

The sources

  1. PayPal IPO prospectus, 18 January 2002 ↗

    The company’s own history: Confinity founded December 1998, the March 2000 merger with X.com, its officers. Thiel is listed as chief executive.

  2. PayPal, Inc.: separation agreement with Elon Musk, 4 May 2001 (SEC exhibit 10.15) ↗

    Primary contract. Records Musk’s resignation as CEO effective 24 September 2000; the same document used in the Musk file.

  3. eBay: agreement to acquire PayPal, 8 July 2002 (SEC exhibit, filed October 2002) ↗

    Primary filing on the $1.5 billion all-stock deal.

The September 2000 ouster

A boardroom switch that both men still talk about.

Participants have described a September 2000 board decision, taken while Musk was traveling, to replace him as chief executive with Thiel. The filings confirm the dates of the change, not the drama. [1][2]

The two men went on to invest together: Thiel’s Founders Fund backed SpaceX in 2008. Fortune notes that PayPal alumni still compete and clash, especially over politics. [3]

What we can’t tell you. No contemporaneous board minutes are public.

The sources

  1. PayPal IPO prospectus, 18 January 2002 ↗

    The company’s own history: Confinity founded December 1998, the March 2000 merger with X.com, its officers. Thiel is listed as chief executive.

  2. PayPal, Inc.: separation agreement with Elon Musk, 4 May 2001 (SEC exhibit 10.15) ↗

    Primary contract. Records Musk’s resignation as CEO effective 24 September 2000; the same document used in the Musk file.

  3. Fortune: The PayPal Mafia still rules Silicon Valley, 21 July 2024 ↗

    Fortune’s own look back at its 2007 cover story that coined the name, with the Tosca bar photo of 13 alumni.

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE

The claims, rated.

5 claims people make about this file, each rated documented, partly true, disputed, unproven or false. Think a rating is wrong? Use Dispute or Support, or join the Discussion.

All 153 rated claims ↗

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