PayPal replaces CEO Alex Chriss with HP’s Enrique Lores

PayPal announced on Tuesday that it is hiring HP’s Enrique Lores as its CEO and president, replacing outgoing chief executive Alex Chriss. Lores is already familiar with the company’s leadership structure, having served as the chair of PayPal’s board since July 2024. Following the announcement of the leadership transition and the company’s latest financial results, PayPal’s share price dropped about 17.9% in premarket trading—the trading activity that occurs before the official market open—on Tuesday.

According to PayPal, the board initiated the leadership transition because the company’s pace of change and execution was not in line with the board’s expectations given broader market trends. Chriss had joined PayPal in September 2023 from Intuit, succeeding former CEO Dan Schulman. To manage the transition, Jamie Miller, PayPal’s CFO and COO, will serve as the interim CEO—the temporary chief executive officer—until Lores officially joins the company.

The executive transition coincided with PayPal’s release of its fourth-quarter financial results and its outlook for the coming year. On Tuesday, the company reported the following performance details:

• Disappointing fourth quarter: PayPal reported lower than expected revenue and profit in the fourth quarter.
• Downward profit forecast: The company forecast a dip in its full-year profit.
• Missed market expectations: Wall Street had broadly expected the company to forecast growth, making the projected decline a surprise to investors.

Lores expressed his outlook on the transition and the broader sector’s technological shift, stating: “The payments industry is changing faster than ever, driven by new technologies, evolving regulations, an increasingly competitive landscape, and the rapid acceleration of AI that is reshaping commerce daily. PayPal sits at the center of this change, and I look forward to leading the team to accelerate the delivery of new innovations and to shape the future of digital payments and commerce.”

Why it matters

The leadership shakeup at PayPal highlights the pressure on fintech companies to accelerate innovation and AI integration amid slowing consumer spending. The sudden transition underscores how quickly boards are willing to act when execution fails to keep pace with rapid technological shifts.