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NEW YORK (AP) — PayPal helped invent online checkout. Nearly three decades later, it’s struggling to defend its turf. The iconic online payments company is facing its biggest challenge in nearly three decades of existence. Its core business of customers using the app to check out when shopping online is barely growing and new management has bluntly warned investors that “significant changes” will be needed to fix the company’s problems. One of the biggest success stories of the original dot-com era, PayPal has seen its territory steadily conquered by new and existing competitors, particularly Apple, Shopify, the buy now, pay later companies like Affirm and Klarna, and peer-to-peer money transfer services like Cash App and Zelle, particularly in the past five years. As a result, PayPal’s stock has fallen nearly 40% in the past 12 months. The stock, which soared during the pandemic as millions of Americans started shopping online for groceries and other necessities, has plunged roughly 80% in the past five years as investors worried that PayPal missed an opportunity to leverage its name recognition and dominance in online payments and allowed its competitors to take market share that will be hard to recover. Investors’ concerns are not about profitability, although PayPal did warn investors that 2026 profits would be down from the previous year. The concerns lie more with how will PayPal grow and maintain its market with increasing competition. PayPal said in its first-quarter earnings report that branded checkout — the company’s most profitable business by margin — grew just 2%. While the company noted there had been a slowdown in its European division and other discretionary purchases, a growth of only 2% in one of the fastest growing industries alarmed investors and shares dropped nearly 8%. The pressures on PayPal’s business have led to some dramatic changes at the top of the company. The board ousted CEO Alex Chriss in February and replaced him with Enrique Lores, the former president and CEO of HP Inc., and a member of PayPal’s board. Lores announced a cost-cutting plan that includes reorganizing the company into three divisions and relying more on artificial intelligence. He told investors at May’s shareholder meeting he expects to update them on the company’s turnaround plan “in a few months.” The biggest threat to PayPal’s dominance has been Apple and its Apple Pay service. Apple rolled out Apple Pay in 2014, which allowed Apple customers to store virtual credit and debit cards on their devices to pay online. The company also integrated tap-to-pay technologies into iPhones and the Apple Watch to allow Apple users to pay for items at stores in person. So, while PayPal has embedded itself as a checkout button on countless merchant websites, that checkout button has become less useful when a customer can store their payment information on their phone and pay using a fingerprint or a glance of their face, analysts said. This has caused customers to drift away from PayPal as a default payment method. PayPal in 2019 controlled roughly 9% of e-commerce in the U.S. and globally, with Apple Pay having a 3% market share, according to analysts at UBS. Six years later, Apple overtook PayPal as the dominant checkout option, and its market share is expected to continue to grow as Apple rolls out Apple Pay to non-iOS users. There is also the growing popularity of buy now, pay later companies such as Klarna and Affirm. While PayPal now offers buy now, pay later services like its pay-in-four plan, and longer-term monthly payment plans, it lags its major competitors including Affirm, which was founded by one of PayPal’s founders, Max Levchin. “PayPal has had a lot of trouble evolving from being just a way to pay on your desktop computer,” said Sanjay Sakhrani, an analyst who covers credit cards and payment methods at investment bank Keefe Bruyette & Woods. Going forward, investors worry that if the branded checkout business continues to lag behind it competitors, it could spell future trouble for PayPal. Wall Street analysts have questioned whether Venmo or Braintree may be spun off from the company, noting that Lores was previously responsible for spliting HP into two separate companies. Earlier this year, PayPal’s stock jumped briefly on unconfirmed reports that the payments company Stripe was interested in acquiring all or parts of PayPal. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

Oreo is teaming up with K-pop supergroup BTS for a bit of marketing dynamite that capitalizes on consumers’ growing interest in global flavors. Mondelez, Oreo’s parent company, said Tuesday that BTS-themed Oreos will go on sale June 1 online and June 8 in stores. The cookies, which feature purple wafers in a nod to the band’s signature color, will be sold in more than 80 markets around the world, making the partnership the brand’s biggest to date. The band also designed 13 embossments for the wafers, including the names of the seven members and an outline of the light stick that fans hold at BTS concerts. The white-and-tan creme center of the sandwich cookies was formulated to taste like hotteok, a warm, brown sugar-stuffed pancake that’s a popular Korean street food. “For Oreo to be the first snacking brand we’ve collaborated with globally is a huge honor. We ate them as kids, we eat them in the studio and now Oreo is helping us share a taste of home with the world,” BTS said in a statement. BTS Oreos will be sold for a limited time. Chicago-based Mondelez wouldn’t say how many packages it’s making. Martin Renaud, Mondelez’ chief marketing and sales officer, said the BTS cookies strike a balance of staying true to Korean culture and food while remaining consistent with Oreo’s brand and flavoring. “You want to be authentic, you want to be differentiated and live an experience. But when you are Oreo, you need to be pleasing a large group of people,” Renaud told The Associated Press. “You cannot come up with something that will be liked only by 20% of the population because it would alienate some of our customers.” Renaud said Oreo spent around two years developing the BTS cookie, eventually narrowing the possible flavors to three before settling on hotteok. “I think Korean food is an incredible cuisine. I’m French, maybe I should not say that, but I believe it,” Renaud joked. BTS Oreos arrive at a time when consumers are increasingly eager to sample new and authentic global cuisines and flavors. Datassential, a food and beverage consulting company, said U.S. restaurants featuring global flavors — Asian and South American, specifically — have been gaining market share since 2019. In Europe, West African restaurants are growing in popularity, the company said. Social media is spurring the international taste trend. There are more than 11,700 TikTok videos under the hashtag “hotteok,” for example. Seeking out global foods or learning to make them is a low-risk and low-cost way to enjoy other cultures, said Russell Zwanka, the director of the food marketing program at Western Michigan University. “You can experience the world without spending $2,000 on a ticket,” Zwanka said. Delivery services and speciality grocery stores like the Asian supermarket chain H Mart have also made it easier for consumers to sample international foods, he said. “People have a much more proactive stance on trying to find flavors they can attribute to certain regions of the world,” Zwanka said. “I think that’s beautiful. It’s way the world should be.” In recent years, Oreo has partnered with Coca-Cola, singer and actress Selena Gomez, and the K-pop girl band Blackpink, among others. The brand also offers limited-time flavors in specific markets, like cherry sakura in Japan and red bean paste in China. BTS is also no stranger to food collaborations. The band partnered with McDonalds in 2021 for a global meal promotion in 50 countries. BTS also worked with the Korean food companies Paldo and Hy to develop Arih, a line of noodles and drinks sold at Walmart. Renaud said partnerships and playful, interesting flavors help Oreo expand its appeal beyond families. “We want to be making sure we also keep our older children and Gen Zs and keep the brand up to date,” he said. Renaud said Oreo is already working on its next collaborations, which may or may not be as big as the BTS partnership. “We’re not obsessed to be more, more, more, more, markets. I think if we can, yes, let’s go for it,” he said. “But the key point is we need to be really resonating with the local culture.” Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The leader of Africa’s most developed economy faces impeachment proceedings over a scandal from years ago involving around $580,000 in cash that was stashed in a sofa at his game farm and then stolen. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been accused of misconduct over the source of the money and attempting to cover up the theft in 2020 using his personal security team so as to hide its existence. He has denied wrongdoing. Here’s what to know about the “Farmgate” scandal and why impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa have been revived years later. The scandal first broke in 2022 when a former head of South Africa’s state security agency walked into a police station, revealed the theft and accused Ramaphosa of money laundering and other offenses. The theft at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala ranch happened in February 2020, a year after Ramaphosa won an election, but wasn’t publicly known. After the revelations, Ramaphosa acknowledged that the theft happened, but denied wrongdoing, saying he reported it at the time to the head of his police protection unit. Ramaphosa said that the $580,000 in U.S. banknotes that was taken from the couch was from the legitimate sale of buffaloes at his ranch. He said the money was put under the cushions of a sofa in a spare bedroom in his private residence at the farm by a staff member who was concerned that other workers had access to a safe. Ramaphosa was a wealthy businessman before becoming president and is known for his love of livestock and game breeding. An independent panel appointed by Parliament investigated and issued a report saying there was initial evidence of serious misconduct by Ramaphosa, including that the theft wasn’t properly reported, the source of the money was unclear and the amount might have been much more than Ramaphosa claimed. Ramaphosa also allegedly drew on his contacts with the then president of neighboring Namibia to help discreetly track down a suspect in the theft who had fled there, according to the report. It recommended a full investigation. Ramaphosa survived an initial vote in Parliament over the scandal in late 2022 when his African National Congress party — which had a majority at the time — voted to reject the panel report, stopping any impeachment process. However, two opposition parties filed a case at South Africa’s top Constitutional Court, arguing that the evidence of the panel report should have triggered an impeachment committee to be formed to fully investigate if Ramaphosa was guilty of misconduct and should face an impeachment vote. The court ruled this month in favor of the opposition parties, saying the 2022 vote by Parliament didn’t follow procedure and should be set aside, reviving the scandal and the possibility of impeachment. Parliament has said that it will form an impeachment committee to fully investigate. Ramaphosa has said he won’t resign and filed his own court papers this week challenging the findings of the panel report, national broadcaster SABC reported on Tuesday. He has said it has “grave flaws.” Impeaching Ramaphosa would require at least two-thirds of South Africa’s 400-member Parliament to vote for it, according to the country’s constitution. While Ramaphosa’s ANC lost its outright majority in 2024, it still has the numbers to block an impeachment. The 73-year-old Ramaphosa is serving his final term as president, which is due to end in 2029. ___ AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal ’s National Assembly elected ousted Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko as parliament speaker Tuesday, defying President Bassirou Diomaye Faye who fired him days earlier and threatening political deadlock in a country already buckling under record debt. Sonko was sacked alongside all other ministers last week, following months of tensions between him and the president as their powerful partnership that drove them to power crumbled. His firing triggered the resignation of the parliament speaker. Faye named a new prime minister Monday and is expected to announce a new cabinet in the coming days. Faye and Sonko took office following the March 2024 presidential election, promising to carry out ambitious reforms that included fighting corruption, creating jobs for Senegal’s growing young population and maximizing natural resource benefits. But the two have openly disagreed on key policies in recent months, including about negotiations for a loan from the International Monetary Fund. As speaker, Sonko now can shape which laws come to a vote, scrutinize government reforms and introduce legislation — powers that could put him on a collision course with the president he once served, said Babacar Ndiaye, a political analyst at the Senegal-based Wathi think tank. Sonko said he would not use his role as parliament speaker to settle personal scores with Faye, but promised to hold the government to account and use every constitutional power at his disposal to do so. Faye and Sonko were former allies from the party known as Pastef, which holds a strong majority in parliament with 130 deputies out of 165. Sonko leads the party and could challenge Faye’s authority. Senegal meanwhile grapples with a deepening debt crisis and rising cost of living. The country has one of the highest debt-to-GDP ratios in Africa, after a government audit last year revealed a larger-than-reported debt of $13 billion attributed to the previous administration. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence declined slightly this month as gas prices stayed high and inflation remained elevated, a sharp contrast to soaring stock prices that have neared record levels. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index slipped 0.7 points to 93.1 in May, the first decline after three months of gains. The index follows a separate gauge of consumer sentiment compiled by the University of Michigan, which fell to a record low this month. Spikes in gas prices as well as higher food costs have worsened inflation, which has outpaced the growth in average paychecks in recent months, reducing most Americans’ purchasing power. Americans have soured on President Trump’s economic policies, polls show, potentially creating problems for Republicans heading into the midterm elections. Gas prices have soared to a nationwide average of $4.49 a gallon from $2.98 just before the war began at the end of February, and have been at or above $4.50 a gallon for nearly all of May. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com