04:23 AM EDT, 05/29/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates to add more information throughout.)

PayPal Holdings ( PYPL ) is planning to build an ad sales business around the "customer insights" it generates from tracking the purchases and spending behaviors of the millions of consumers who use its services, the company said late Tuesday.

"PayPal's ( PYPL ) long-standing relationships with millions of consumers and merchants make the company uniquely positioned to create an advertising platform that is rooted in commerce," the company said.

The new business will also track the broader spending habits of customers, including those that use its Venmo app and its PayPal ( PYPL ) credit card, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company said it has already hired Uber's (UBER) former advertising business leader Mark Grether and former Plaid and Meta Platforms (META) executive John Anderson to oversee the new business.

PayPal ( PYPL ) plans to sell ads to business customers and external clients who do not use its payment system. "If you're someone who's buying products on the web, we know who is buying the products where, and we can leverage the data," Grether told the Journal.

Shoppers can choose to opt out of providing their data to PayPal ( PYPL ) for targeting advertising purposes, the Journal reported.

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