Social networking giant Facebook (META 1.54%) has poached some high-level talent from eBay's (EBAY 1.01%) PayPal division. PayPal President David Marcus is leaving the company to lead messaging products at Facebook. Marcus joined eBay three years ago and has helped develop a mobile payment strategy.
PayPal still has some work to do, though, as it still needs to integrate its Braintree acquisition and hasn't accomplished its goal of invading physical retail. Still, Marcus is looking forward to working on products again, as he prefers that to executive management.
While the seemingly obvious connection would be that Marcus could help Facebook monetize its Messenger service (which now has 200 million monthly active users), reports suggest that was not the rationale behind the hire. Rival messaging services like Tencent's WeChat have integrated payments, which has proven successful.
Facebook also accidentally unveiled its latest shot at the ephemeral messaging market with Slingshot. This product comes shortly after Facebook killed Poke, its previous attempt to take down Snapchat.
In this segment of Tech Teardown, Erin Kennedy discusses Facebook's hire with Evan Niu, CFA.
