PayPal Cancels Plans to Hire 400 Employees due to Anti Gay NC

         

PayPal Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Dan Schulman said Tuesday his company is cancelling plans for a new global operations center in Charlotte, N.C., where PayPal would have employed more than 400 people.

The online-payments company announced its expansion plan just two weeks ago, but is pulling back because of a new North Carolina law that says transgender people must use public bathrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificates, among other measures.

“The new law perpetuates discrimination, and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal’s mission and culture,” Mr. Schulman said in a statement Tuesday. “As a result, PayPal will not move forward with our planned expansion into Charlotte.” 

Mr. Schulman was one of more than 120 business leaders who sent North Carolina’s Republican Gov. Pat McCrory a letter last weekraising objection to the new law. Opponents are seeking a repeal of the law. Mr. McCrory has defended the law as a common-sense measure.

The governor’s office didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the cancelled PayPal plan. 

PayPal processed $282 billion worth of transactions last year, spent $1.2 billion on customer support and operations, and employed 9,800 people in the U.S. Based in San Jose, Calif., it is valued at $47 billion, after splitting off from eBay Inc. last year.

—Telis Demos contributed to this article.

Write to Jon Kamp at jon.kamp@wsj.com 

Attitudes on Same-Sex Marriage by State | Graphiq