

Paypal acquires Stackmob - Madness64
http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/17/someone-is-buying-stackmob-for-christmas/

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sergiotapia
This is bad news - Paypal is an incredibly shady business and I dislike them
intensely.

They have all the power of a bank, but none of the accountability. They can
freeze your assets and if you want to complain dial 1-800-talk2robot, like
pissing in the wind.

I'm sure you've all read the horror stories about Paypal. There certainly
isn't a shortage of em.

~~~
dangrossman
Banks can and do freeze merchant accounts for the same reasons and same amount
of time as PayPal, and you can complain to the same robotic call tree if you
don't like it. PayPal's not unique in that at all, most consumers just have no
exposure to this as they never operate a business and have to get a merchant
account to accept credit cards.

There does seem to be a shortage of horror stories with PayPal compared to how
fiercely they're hated by some like yourself. I read a handful a year at most.
For 230 million accounts, that's less complaints than you'd expect as a
baseline regardless of the company's service record; every business gets their
share. Certainly less than I hear about cable and phone companies, big retail
chains, etc.

~~~
yuhong
Just dug this out from Quora: [http://www.quora.com/PayPal/Why-does-Paypal-
have-so-many-pro...](http://www.quora.com/PayPal/Why-does-Paypal-have-so-many-
problems-in-the-UK-with-freezing-cash-in-accounts?share=1)

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yelnatz
So they're closing up shop? No more Stackmob?

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chime
I was just looking at Stackmob last week as a potential backend for my next
project. I had originally planned on using Parse but with their acquisition, I
felt uncertain about their future. With Stackmob going the same route, is
there any decent backend I could use reliably?

~~~
janj
I've been completely reliant on Parse as a backend for a long time. The
acquisition made me nervous but I've been reassured and am now comfortable
with Parse as a long term solution for a few reasons. For one, the development
of the platform has not stalled at all since the acquisition. I don't think
you can find a more complete and enjoyable backend solution than Parse.

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pbreit
I never really understood what StockMob does/did? Will the service continue?

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yelnatz
"By joining PayPal, the StackMob team will maintain its focus on developers
and extending innovative mobile technologies that aim to allow consumers to
access the rich capabilities of the PayPal global network... We believe that
our work at PayPal will make it easier for developers to create seamless
payment solutions that span online, mobile, and in-store experiences."

I think they're done.

They're gonna be joining Paypal to improve what Paypal has.

~~~
hkmurakami
That really sounds like an acquihire to me.

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byoung2
Any guesses what the sticker price was?

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xfour
Since it wasn't disclosed, I'm guessing less than the amount raised. Doesn't
seem like something PayPal as a business would be interested in, so it's most
likely a talent acquisition.

~~~
robryan
A talent acquisition is usually for more than the amount raised. Unless they
were really struggling and about to go out of business.

~~~
byoung2
_in spite of the added incentive of a reportedly low asking price, Yahoo opted
not to make a deal.

So, while PayPal and StackMob declined to share details on the acquisition
price, it doesn’t sound like this was a blockbuster deal. Furthermore, while
StackMob had a good run, it doesn’t come as a complete surprise that StackMob
struggled in its efforts to reach profitability and scale to the degree it had
initially hoped._

It sounds like maybe investors will break even and employees get jobs.

