Wall Street wipes $325 billion from this once unstoppable company

Looking back over the past half-decade or so, investors can learn a lot about changing macroeconomic and industry forces and how they’ve impacted certain businesses. There were some companies, for example, that thrived before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. But in recent years they have struggled.

One business, which was once exhibiting unstoppable momentum, has been hit particularly hard. Wall Street has wiped $325 billion off its market cap in less than five years.

Where to invest $1,000 now? Our analyst team recently revealed what they believe 10 Best Stocks Join Stock Advisor when you buy now. View Stock »

From its all-time high stock price in July 2021 to February 5, 2026, PayPalwho (NASDAQ: PYPL ) The market cap has eroded, going from $363 billion to $38 billion today. As a result, shareholders have posted huge losses. The fintech stocks Trades 87% from its peak.

Market sentiment has clearly taken a dramatic turn, from euphoria to extreme pessimism. The optimism was understandable. Between 2019 and 2021, PayPal’s total payment volume, revenue, and net income grew by 76%, 43%, and 70%, respectively. Dan Shulman, the CEO at the time, also predicted that the business would reach 1 billion users.

Then came doom and gloom. Once the economy opened back up and consumer behavior began to normalize, PayPal’s growth slowed dramatically. In 2025 revenue grew by only 4%. Transaction count decreased last year. The user base is essentially flat. Also, just the company Appointed its second CEO In less than three years.

The biggest risk for PayPal is clearly obvious. It should be competitive. This may be a shocking revelation for some investors, especially since it is a highly respected brand in the world of business payments. What’s more, as a scaled two-sided ecosystem, PayPal benefits from network effects.

But the payment landscape couldn’t be more crowded. strip, Eden, Shopify, Global payments‘WorldPay, and BlockSquare is a formidable opponent on the merchant side, going head-to-head with PayPal’s Braintree.

When it comes to individuals, there is a list of companies in broad categories within financial services, such as Block’s Cash app, intelligent, SoFi Technologiesand American Expressto consider

The phenomenal growth of Apple Payment and AlphabetGoogle Pay cannot be ignored. Their advantage is being integrated with the two most popular smartphone operating systems, iOS and Android.