PayPal's 'buy now, pay later' surged 400% on Black Friday

PayPal launched its "Buy in 4" platform in August last year, making its entry into the increasingly competitive lending niche.

"We saw a 400% year-on-year rise on our volumes going through 'buy now, pay later' this past Black Friday," PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said. "It's booming right now." He added that more than 9 million people have used its service.

Black Friday is the unofficial shopping holiday in late November on the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.

"We had more than 1 million first-time users for the first time ever in the month of November," Schulman said. "It's not just popular but accelerating in popularity."