Benzinga | Jan 19, 2022 01:31PM EST

Google Ropes In Former PayPal Executive For Payments Division: Report

* Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google hired former PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL) executive Arnold Goldberg to run its payments division, Bloomberg reports.

* The hiring is a part of Google's broader strategy to team up with a broader range of financial services, including cryptocurrencies, the report quoted Bill Ready, Google's President of commerce.

* Ready, PayPal's former COO, joined Google in 2019 and recruited Goldberg, who ran PayPal's merchant business, to become the VP for the payments and emerging market efforts.

* Google wants to become the connective tissue for the entire consumer finance industry, not just certain partners, according to Ready.

* Google looks to add more payment features within search and its shopping service. That will help show users "the entire array of financial services out there," Ready said.

* Tiptoeing into crypto also could help Google entice users, the report noted.

* Goldberg, Ready's new deputy, is stepping into a role vacated by Caesar Sengupta, a longtime Google manager. Sengupta has formed a new fintech company, Arbo Works, and hired several others from Google's payments team.

* Price Action: GOOGL shares traded higher by 1.25% at $2,753.90 on the last check Wednesday.