2018 Guide to Effective Proxies

2.17.10 Peer groups | 473 6 TH EDITION | GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE PROXIES Compensation Discussion and Analysis 47 In considering our executive compensation program for 2017 and going forward, the Committee considered the peer group used in measuring performance plans, as well as its goals of rewarding performance and retaining core top talent. Traditionally, companies compare their performance against the performance of a group of companies whose business models are relatively similar to those of the company. Executive compensation programs are generally designed to reward performance that is relatively stronger than that of its peers. Executive compensation programs are also generally designed to roughly parallel the programs of members of the performance peer group because employees have historically been recruited by these competitors and we compete against them for talent. Our peer group consists generally of “technology” companies and “financial” companies. This is intended to provide the Committee with insight into the differences across these two sectors in which we generally compete for executive talent. Our peer group for 2017 is composed of 12 technology companies, which generally reflect the companies with which we directly compete for talent, and eight financial companies, which generally reflect the companies with which we not only compete for talent but also to which we more closely compare our financial performance. This is the same peer group that was used for evaluating 2016 compensation decisions except for the removal of LinkedIn, Inc. because it was acquired by Microsoft. These companies are as follows: PEER GROUP COMPANIES Adobe Systems Incorporated Alphabet Inc. (Google Inc.) Amazon.com, Inc. American Express Company Apple Inc. Discover Financial Services Facebook, Inc. First Data Corporation Global Payments Inc. Intuit Inc. MasterCard Incorporated Oracle Corporation Salesforce.com, Inc. Square, Inc. Symantec Corporation The Western Union Company Twitter, Inc. Worldpay, Inc. (Vantiv, Inc.) Visa Inc. Technology Companies Financial Companies www.paypal.com Proxy Statement PAYPAL HOLDINGS