Governor Pat McCrory, North Carolina Commerce Secretary John E. Skvarla, III and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC) announced PayPal, Inc. will open a 400-job global operations center in Charlotte. The technology platform and digital payments leader is headquartered in San Jose, California. It will invest over $3.6 million in Mecklenburg County by the end of 2017.
“North Carolina is the ideal destination for innovation-based, worldwide companies like PayPal,” said Governor McCrory. “Today’s announcement means that we can add another prominent name to the state’s growing list of technology businesses with major operations here.”
Since its founding in 1998, PayPal has been at the forefront of the trend toward digital and mobile payments. The company currently has 179 million active customer accounts. Its technology enables people and businesses to make secure transactions with each other online, in person and via mobile device. PayPal’s global platform allows customers to get paid in more than 100 currencies. The company reported $9.2 billion in revenue for 2015.
“North Carolina’s technology-savvy workforce will provide the perfect fuel for PayPal’s continued growth,” said Secretary Skvarla. “This company’s global reputation for innovation and customer service makes it a strong fit for our state’s business-friendly community.”
PayPal’s Charlotte operations center will engage a diverse set of employees including customer service, risk operations, engineering and technology and other staff. The center will yield a payroll impact of nearly $20.4 million per year for Mecklenburg and surrounding counties.
“We are excited and eager to join the Charlotte business community,” said John McCabe, Senior Vice President of Global Operations at PayPal. “With its strong ties to the financial community and technology savvy talent pool, Charlotte is an ideal fit for this new operations center. This new site marks an exciting opportunity for PayPal as we continue to serve our customers, both merchants and consumers and support them in using PayPal as a payments platform to shop, sell, send money or even donate to worthy causes.”
The state Economic Investment Committee approved a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) earlier today, encouraging and recognizing PayPal’s arrival in Charlotte. Receipt of the award is based on proof of job creation and other performance requirements. JDIGs are awarded only to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects whose benefits exceed the costs to the state and would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the reimbursement.
Under the terms of the company’s JDIG, PayPal, Inc., is eligible to receive up to $2,797,500 in total reimbursements over the 12-year life of the award. Receipt of each annual installment is based on state-certified proof that the company has fulfilled incremental job creation requirements.
Approximately $932,000 in additional funds from the company’s JDIG award could be added to the state’s Utility Fund for infrastructure improvements in less populated counties. When a JDIG is awarded to a company whose site is located in the state’s more populated, economically prosperous counties such as Mecklenburg, a percentage of the company’s grant is allocated to the Utility Fund to encourage economic development in Tier 1 and Tier 2 counties. For more information on the county tier designations, visit: http://www.nccommerce.com/research-publications/incentive-reports/county-tier-designations.
In addition to N.C. Commerce and EDPNC, other organizations and entities supporting the project include the North Carolina Community College System, NCWorks, Mecklenburg County, the City of Charlotte, the Greater Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and Mecklenburg County.