PayPal announces Visa partnership; earnings rise

By Heather Somerville (Reuters) - PayPal Holdings Inc on Thursday showed strong growth in its online payments business, meeting Wall Street expectations on earnings and announcing a partnership with Visa Inc that is expected to bring a significant revenue increase. Second-quarter earnings rose to 36 cents per share, in line with analysts' expectations, and year-over-year revenue growth rose 15 percent to $2.65 billion. The company also unveiled a partnership with Visa - a deal for which investors had been eager - intended to make it easier for PayPal customers to use Visa credit cards in their transactions and allow shoppers to use PayPal in brick-and-mortar retail locations. "A collaboration between PayPal and Visa could present a formidable obstacle to Apple Pay (and) Google Wallet," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. PayPal shares were up about 2 percent in after-hours trading after closing at $40.13 on the Nasdaq. (Reporting by Heather Somerville in San Francisco; Editing by Matthew Lewis)