PAYPAL COULD CHALLENGE CARD DOMINANCE ON THE INTERNET.(files for initial public offering)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

PayPal, a Palo Alto, CA-based e-mail payment company, has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $80.5 million in an initial public offering, a PayPal spokesperson tells CardLine today. If PayPal's IPO is successful, Gwenn Bezard, a financial analyst who follows the payment-services industry for New York City-based Celent Communications, says PayPal will challenge the credit card industry's dominance as the preferred payment system on the Web. If PayPal does make a hard run at the card industry, it will do so with the help of one of the industry's biggies. Providian Financial Corp., the San Francisco-based issuer, has …