Elon Musk’s vision of an everything app that includes banking capabilities may not be what Americans are looking for, said Max Levchin, who co-founded PayPal Holdings Inc. with the world’s richest man.
“I do think that the everything app worked really well in a place, in a time, in a different country,” Levchin, now chief executive officer of financial-technology firm Affirm Holdings Inc., said Friday on Bloomberg Television. “I don’t think the US consumer is looking for a version of a Tencent product.”
Musk wants Twitter, which he bought in 2022, to be more like Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat, a messaging service that also allows users to send each other funds, pay for goods and services and borrow money. The app is used daily by more than a billion people in China, but attempts by tech firms including PayPal, Facebook and Google to offer something similar in the US haven’t been successful.
Read More: Elon Musk the Banker Wants to Take On Dimon Where Google Failed
While Musk is facing an uphill battle, Levchin said he isn’t betting against his one-time colleague.
“Don’t ever put anything past Elon,” he said. “He has proven time and time again that he can achieve crazy things.”
--With assistance from Sonali Basak.
(Adds PayPal affiliation in first paragraph.)
Author: Marnie Muñoz and Tanaz Meghjani
