Lou Whiteman

But this is not a company that is saying, you know what, let's fire the CEO, bring in a new CEO with a plan and also put ourselves for sale.

This is someone being opportunistic, seeking to get a deal.

The funny thing here is, is that if you buy that premise that the board is not looking to sell, the only way to change their mind is to maybe get rid of the opportunistic part of it by significantly overpaying.

I think that PayPal's destiny is to be acquired one day.

I don't think it's going to be in 2026, but I could be wrong.

Lou, what'd you take from the quarter?

So I was wrong here.

I have to admit, I am also a shareholder.

I like the business long-term, but I really was worried about this quarter.

They had a rough time last quarter, and it just felt like sky-high expectations plus a tough environment for local government spending.

That might just mean growth wouldn't pan out, and obviously, that didn't happen.

The $14 billion backlog

a future business, what really stood out to me more than just kind of the numbers.

It's possible that why I was wrong is, is that in a tight budget environment, tools that allow you to do more with your same personnel, that that is compelling enough.

Is this a great business?

This is still a work in progress.

I might push back on that, that it's just a fantastic business.

There's tons of CapEx.

And if you look at the net income relative to revenue for a company that's been around this long, almost 800 million in revenue, and they can only generate 3 million in net income,

that's not what you want to see long-term.