eBay Inc. put its online bill payment
company in the spotlight Wednesday in a deal with West Coast banking giant Wells Fargo & Co.
As part of the deal, Wells Fargo (WFC)
will purchase 35 percent of Billpoint Inc. from eBay (EBAY) pending Federal Reserve approval. Wells Fargo also entered into a long-term payment processing and customer care contract with Billpoint.
Further financial terms were not disclosed.
Wells Fargo will deploy its payment processing and customer care
infrastructure to ensure the secure completion of each transaction over
Billpoint. eBay jumped into the electronic billing game when it bought Billpoint Inc. last May. Billpoint has since built its initial person-to-person payment
platform, combining Internet payments with data security, customer service,
and integration with eBay.
Billpoint Chief Executive Officer Janet S. Crane said the strength of the
partnership positions Billpoint to lead the development of next-generation
person-to-person payment services.
“Today’s launch of our first product to the eBay community is a
“win-win-win” for eBay, Wells Fargo, and Billpoint and is just the
beginning of our rollout across the Internet. With our partners, we will
continue to develop the easy, convenient and secure online payment products
our present and future customers demand,” he said.