SAN JOSE, February 3, 2026, 05:29 (PST)
- Enrique Lores is set to become CEO on March 1, with CFO Jamie Miller stepping in as interim chief.
- PayPal missed fourth-quarter estimates and projected weaker earnings for 2026
- The board declared PayPal’s inaugural quarterly cash dividend
PayPal announced it will replace CEO Alex Chriss with Enrique Lores, currently leading HP Inc., following a gloomy profit forecast that sent shares tumbling in premarket action. Jamie Miller steps in as interim CEO, while David W. Dorman takes over as independent board chair, the company said.
The board acted after assessing PayPal’s standing against rivals and concluding that “the pace of change and execution” wasn’t meeting expectations. This shake-up comes as payments companies race to find growth, with PayPal’s core checkout button no longer dominating the scene. https://www.ft.com/content/81a4c10f-dc31-4faa-a2c6-a6b12a48b910
PayPal announced the leadership change as it unveiled fourth-quarter and full-year results that fell short of Wall Street expectations. The company’s 2026 forecast predicted a low-single-digit drop or a slight rise in adjusted earnings per share. Shares dropped roughly 16% ahead of the U.S. market open.
PayPal reported Q4 net revenue of $8.7 billion, marking a 4% increase, with adjusted earnings per share at $1.23. Total payment volume climbed 9% to $475.1 billion. The company also announced a $0.14 dividend, set for payment on March 25. Interim CEO Miller acknowledged the execution “has not been where it needs to be,” citing issues “particularly in branded checkout.” https://s205.q4cdn.com/875401827/files/doc_financials/2025/q4/PYPL-4Q-25-Earnings-Release.pdf
Lores, who has served as a PayPal director for nearly five years and stepped in as board chair in July 2024, is set to take the helm on March 1. He promised to lead with “greater speed and precision.” Chriss described the timing as “right” to pass the baton to a “seasoned leader.” https://investor.pypl.com/news-and-events/news-details/2026/PayPal-Appoints-Enrique-Lores-as-Chief-Executive-Officer-and-David-W–Dorman-as-Independent-Board-Chair/default.aspx
PayPal’s board praised Chriss for advancing Venmo monetisation and expanding the buy now, pay later service, which allows shoppers to split payments into instalments. Still, management flagged weak performance from the online branded checkout—the PayPal button on merchant sites—where total payment volume rose only 1% on a currency-neutral basis.
PayPal is ramping up biometric logins and a revamped checkout screen designed to put PayPal front and center earlier in the purchase process. The company is also betting on rewards and buy now, pay later options to give consumers more flexibility. Looking ahead to 2026, PayPal projects adjusted free cash flow exceeding $6 billion and plans to return $6 billion to shareholders through buybacks.
Pressure is mounting from every angle. PayPal is grappling with fierce competition as tech giants like Apple and Google push further into payments. Meanwhile, an increasing number of merchants are shifting business toward lower-margin processing options.
PayPal’s 2026 guidance already factors in lower interest rates and some short-term drag from investments aimed at improving checkout “presentment”—how payment options appear on screen—and boosting consumer choice. But if those upgrades drag on or consumers cut back spending again, margins might suffer further.
Lores steps into a company handling massive volume — PayPal processed $1.79 trillion in payments in 2025 and has 439 million active accounts. Still, investors are zeroing in on one thing: will the branded checkout hold steady before the new CEO’s first full quarter at the helm?
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