Saturday, February 26, 2011

PayPal opens 2nd Valley site

PayPal, an online-payment service that facilitates nearly 18 percent of all global online commerce, celebrated the grand opening Wednesday of its Price Road customer-service and operations center.

PayPal, which is hiring hundreds for its Chandler operations, occupies the first two floors of Chandler Echelon just south of the Santan Freeway. It plans to grow into the top two floors and ultimately house 2,000 employees by the end of the year. It has 500 now.

The company is hiring people for operations, customer service, training, technology and management. Potential workers can apply at ebaycareers.com.


The building, which houses customer service, operations and technology, serves PayPal customers in North America and Australia.

"Arizona can be a magnet for business expansion," said Gov. Jan Brewer, who cut the ribbon Wednesday with PayPal President Scott Thompson.

Chandler Mayor Jay Tibshraeny described the presence of PayPal as critical boost to the local and regional economy. "PayPal is recognized for its exceptional work environment and commitment to employees and the community," the mayor said. "We couldn't ask for a better partnership."

PayPal since 2006 has had operations in Scottsdale, where 200 employees support the business in product development, infrastructure design, engineering and engineering support. It also has operations in Austin; near Omaha, Neb., and Baltimore; Dublin, Ireland; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Chennai, India; Singapore; and Tel Aviv, Israel.

For his part, Thompson praised Arizonans.

"I've worked with people around the globe, and the state of Arizona and the city of Chandler have been absolutely top-notch from the beginning with us," he said.

PayPal chose Chandler for several reasons, including the quality of the building, the commute for employees, proximity to its other offices in Scottsdale, favorable weather and a time zone to support customer operations, spokeswoman Sara Parker said.

PayPal revenue in 2010 was $3.4 billion, up 23 percent from the previous year, she said. The company has 94 million active registered accounts.

The 188,000-square-foot building received a silver LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for interior construction.

It will have a 5,000-square-foot gym with exterior access so employees can use it even when they're not working. Although the building has some cubicles, many of the employees will sit at workstations on serpentine-shaped counters, which give the illusion of more space.

The building contains what the company calls "fueling stations," with soda machines and Seattle's Best Coffee, and meeting and training rooms, with videoconferencing capability.

PayPal has accounts in 190 markets and 24 currencies around the world.

by Luci Scott The Arizona Republic Feb. 24, 2011 12:00 AM



PayPal opens 2nd Valley site

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