Forbes.com points out how PayPal alums have gone on to found some of Silicon Valley's hottest startups since eBay took over the payment service in 2002. After the $1.5 billion sale, two former
PayPal employees started viral video phenomenon YouTube, others got involved in LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, and other moved into prestigious investment firms like Clarium Capital
and Sequoia Capital. "I really haven't seen so many entrepreneurs spin out of a single company before," says PayPal's former vice president of technology, Jeremy Stoppleman. It's not at all uncommon
for startup founders and top executives to leave after selling their company; but years later, management is still leaving PayPal, causing concern at eBay. Last week PayPal president Jeff Jordan said
he would leave the company after a two-year stint at the top, a move which many analysts viewed negatively. He was preceded by Chuck Geiger, the company's chief technical officer, who left last year.
In fact, former PayPal workers tell Forbes that half of the 200 or so employees who worked at the company before the eBay acquisition have left. New competition from Google, coupled with the defection
of so much of its staff, has led to the current atmosphere of uncertainty at PayPal. Meanwhile, PayPal alumni continue to move onward with their new ventures, and many of them collaborate on new
projects together. Says one former exec: "Look at YouTube [co-founded by two PayPal veterans]. It's like a reunion over there."
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