On Tuesday, PayPal Holdings said it will bring in HP Inc. Chief Executive Enrique Lores to succeed Alex Chriss as CEO, starting March 1. The company is making this change amid slower growth and rising investor pressure.
Lores has been HP’s CEO since 2019 and has served on PayPal’s board for almost five years, now acting as its chair. Jamie Miller, PayPal’s chief financial and operating officer, will lead the company until the end of February.
After the announcement, PayPal shares dropped 18% to $42.80 on Tuesday. Before this, the stock had already fallen 10% since the start of the year and 33% over the past 12 months.
The leadership change came amid PayPal’s weak fourth-quarter results, highlighting its current challenges. Adjusted earnings were $1.23 per share, below the $1.29 expected. Revenue was $8.68 billion, missing Wall Street’s $8.79 billion estimate.
The company’s outlook was also disappointing. Management expects adjusted earnings growth for fiscal 2026 to range from a small decline to just above zero, much lower than analysts’ hopes for high single-digit growth.
PayPal’s branded checkout service has slowed down. In the fourth quarter, online-only branded checkout volume grew just 1% from a year earlier, compared to 5% growth in the previous quarter. In December, Miller had already warned investors about a possible slowdown.
In its announcement, PayPal’s board acknowledged that progress under Chriss had fallen short of expectations. The company noted that the execution and pace of change over the past two years had not aligned with board standards, despite advances in certain operational areas.
Analysts said that before the earnings report, market sentiment was already negative. The results added to worries about whether PayPal can keep its place in a more competitive payments market.
Many expected Chriss to leave, but some analysts were surprised by how soon it happened. Now, the main question for Lores is whether he will try another long-term turnaround with a new leadership team or consider other options for the company’s assets.
