Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has drawn PayPal president David Marcus into the fold, according to his post on the social network. Marcus has been with PayPal for about three years since the eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) subsidiary acquired Zong.
Marcus meets with Zuckerberg
The executive said he decided to leave PayPal and go to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) after he met with CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He said Zuckerberg had “a compelling vision about Mobile Messaging.” He also said he wasn’t sure if another large company would be the right next step for him, but he was brought in by Zuckerberg’s enthusiasm “and the unparalleled reach and consumer engagement of the Facebook platform.”
Marcus also said he thinks now is the right time to leave PayPal because the payments platform because of its unique positioning in the market and strong products and relationships with developers. He also said he thinks talent is flowing back into PayPal again, so he is leaving the company in good hands. His departure is effective at the end of this month.
eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) CEO John Donahoe confirmed in a blog post on eBay that Marcus is leaving to go to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), saying that Marcus is going to do “what he loves most—leading smaller teams to create great product experiences.”
Facebook to monetize Messenger?
Kara Swisher of Re/code believes that the move is a clear signal from Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) that it is preparing to monetize its Messenger product. Some have been speculating for a while that the social network will make it possible to attach money to messages sent through it, although Swisher says there are other ways for Facebook to monetize its messaging product.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) said it processes 12 billion messages through Messenger every day. The social network has 200 million monthly active users on the app, which is both integrated into Facebook itself and can also be used separately. You may remember that Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) recently acquired WhatsApp, but that will continue to run separately from Messenger, so Marcus will not be in charge of that.
