PayPal Swaps out Alex Chriss for HP Vet Enrique Lores as Investors Lose Patience

PayPal announced a boardroom shake-up Tuesday, replacing CEO Alex Chriss with Enrique Lores – the former CEO of HP who’s been on PayPal’s board for nearly five years and has chaired it since July 2024. The change, the company said, comes after two years where the board felt the pace of change and execution just didn’t meet expectations.

Lores, who led HP for more than six years, will officially take the reins on March 1. Until then PayPal’s CFO Jamie Miller will act as interim CEO, and David Dorman steps in immediately as independent chair. In a statement Lores stressed the speed of change in payments – AI, new tech, shifting rules and stiff competition – and said he’s ready to accelerate innovation at PayPal.

The move follows a soggy earnings report. PayPal missed Street targets for the holiday quarter: adjusted profit of $1.23 a share on $8.68 billion in revenue (analysts had been looking for roughly $1.28–$1.29 and about $8.77–$8.80 billion). The company also issued a weak near-term profit outlook, and its shares plunged roughly 16–17% in premarket trading.

Board members thanked Chriss for wins like monetizing Venmo and pushing Buy Now, Pay Later – but growth in PayPal’s higher-margin “branded checkout” business slowed, with online branded checkout rising just 1% in Q4 versus 6% a year earlier. Total payment volume did tick up about 6% to $475.1 billion, but investors have been jittery about competition from Big Tech and newer fintech rivals eating into market share.

Expectations are high for Lores to bring operational discipline and faster execution – the kind of turnaround skills he showed at HP – while the company tries to shore up its core payments business. PayPal said it’s taking near-term actions to revive branded checkout momentum, but the new CEO will face the tricky job of fending off Apple, Google and an army of challengers while convincing investors growth can return.

PayPal’s leadership swap is a blunt signal – the board wanted quicker results. Lores’ appointment is a bet on a steady, experienced operator to steady the ship. Whether that’s enough to calm investors and kickstart growth remains to be seen.