One of the most well-known internet acquisitions of 2002 was when eBay Inc EBAY announced it was acquiring PayPal Holdings Inc PYPL . Investors who bought eBay shares on the day the deal was announced have done quite well for themselves.

Years later, eBay decided to spin off PayPal. Heres a look at the performance of investors who purchased shares in the financial payments company after its spin-off.

What Happened: eBay announced on Aug. 18, 2002, that it was acquiring online payment company PayPal Holdings. The deal valued PayPal at $1.5 billion six months after the company completed its initial price offering.

Thirteen years after the acquisition, eBay spun off PayPal to shareholders and completed a public listing of the company.

The acquisition previously united a key partner of eBay and was said to help the companys revenue and user growth.

PayPal can still be used by eBay customers, but is not the only option for the online auction company, as eBay has diversified its payment options for sellers and buyers. PayPal has also diversified itself and brought in new revenue streams outside of eBay.

PayPal is the owner of Venmo, a mobile payment service that has seen explosive growth over the last 10+ years.

Related Link: PayPayl Q1 Earnings Highlights: Revenue And EPS Beat, Guidance Raise And More

Investing $1,000 In PayPal: eBay spun off PayPal shares on July 20, 2015, with eBay shareholders getting one PayPal share for each eBay share they owned at the time.

PayPal shares opened for trading at $41.46 on July 20, 2015. A $1,000 investment could have purchased 24.12 PYPL shares at the time.

The $1,000 investment would be worth $1,606.15 today, representing a gain of 60.6%.

Investors could have also chosen to invest in eBay instead of investing in the spinoff of PayPal. A $1,000 investment in eBay could have purchased 37.19 shares of EBAY. The $1,000 investment would be worth $1,703.30 today, representing a return of 70.3%.

Both stocks have underperformed the overall S&P 500, as tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY . A $1,000 investment in SPY at the same time range would be worth $1,933.49 today.

The real investment opportunity for investors was buying eBay shares when the original acquisition of PayPal was announced back in 2002.

A $1,000 investment in EBAY when it announced the acquisition could have purchased 59.40 split adjusted shares. The investor would have 59.40 shares of EBAY today and 59.40 shares of PYPL today. The $1,000 investment would be worth $6,675.97 today.

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