Wall Street Journal (paywalled) The digital payments company plans to build an ad sales business around the reams of data it generates from tracking the purchases as well as the broader spending behaviors of millions of consumers who use its services, which include the more socially-enabled Venmo app.
PayPal has hired Mark Grether, who formerly led Uber’s advertising business, to lead the effort as senior vice president and general manager of its newly-created PayPal Ads division.
You know you’ve got a problem with advertising when even the banks want to become ad platforms. People complain about misinformation on social media, while behind their backs and under their feet the whole economy noisily turns into a competition to see who’s best at deceiving people.