Online auction house eBay has completed its acquisition of PayPal, but the person-to-person payments operator lost its CEO Peter Thiel.
At a meeting of PayPal stockholders, 65 percent voted in favour of the merger.
Hours after the meeting, Peter Thiel, who led the company into the deal, announced his resignation. His duties will be assumed by Matt Bannick, eBay senior vice president, global online payments.
PayPal currently has 20 million registered users, including 3.7 million business accounts. The company says it has moved an estimated $10 billion through the online service since 1999.
Under the deal, PayPal's gaming business will be phased out by the end of 2002 but the company will continue to operate as an independent brand until eBay's current payment service, Payments by Billpoint, completes the phase-out of its operations in the first half of 2003.