PayPal processed $27 billion in mobile payments in 2013, out of a total of the $180 billion of total payments the company handled.

And the pace of mobile payments quickened as the year progressed: $8.8 billion of PayPal’s mobile payments were processed in the last quarter of the year.

In 2010, the eBay subsidiary processed just $600 million via mobile.

As usual, talk of PayPal dominated the earnings call for the San Jose-based eBay, this time because of board member Carl Icahn’s recently argued that PayPal should be spun off.

Active users at PayPal grew to 143 million, 6 million more than the previous quarter. PayPal revenue for the quarter was $1.8 billion. CEO John Donahoe said 70 of the Top 100 internet retailers in the US and 63 of the Top 100 retailers in the EU have incorporated PayPal into their systems.

Donahoe also acknowledged PayPal’s importance within eBay, saying, “In 2014 we’re stepping up our investments, particularly in PayPal.” He later expanded on this:

We’re increasing investments in emerging markets and to drive cross-border trade. PayPal will have a disproportionate share of these investments in 2014.

He also made a case against Icahn’s proposal to spin PayPal off, describing how eBay is good for PayPal:

Paypal and eBay make sense together for many reasons. Let me highlight three that we believe are among the most important. First, eBay accelerates Paypal’s success. Second, eBay data makes PayPal smarter. And third, eBay funds PayPal’s growth.

It should be noted that eBay generated $2.7 billion of revenue last quarter, about 1.5x more than PayPal.

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