PayPal Names Intuit Executive Alex Chriss as Its Next CEO
Hire ends a monthslong search for new head of the payments company PayPal said Alex Chriss would also join its board. Photo: PayPal Holdings, Inc. By Peter Rudegeair and Colin Kellaher Updated Aug. 14, 2023 1:49 pm ET PayPal Holdings has tapped Intuit executive Alex Chriss as its next president and chief executive officer, ending a monthslong search for a new leader. The current CEO, Dan Schulman, had announced in February that he would retire. Chriss will have a long to-do list when he takes the reins on Sept. 27. Long synonymous with online payments, PayPal is experiencing slowing growth in its namesake checkout button and Venmo payment service. The company’s profit margins are under pressure. Competitors like Apple Pay are gaining gr
PayPal said Alex Chriss would also join its board.
Photo: PayPal Holdings, Inc.
PayPal Holdings has tapped Intuit executive Alex Chriss as its next president and chief executive officer, ending a monthslong search for a new leader.
The current CEO, Dan Schulman, had announced in February that he would retire.
Chriss will have a long to-do list when he takes the reins on Sept. 27. Long synonymous with online payments, PayPal is experiencing slowing growth in its namesake checkout button and Venmo payment service. The company’s profit margins are under pressure. Competitors like Apple Pay are gaining ground.
A former American Express executive, Schulman led PayPal through its separation from eBay in 2015. Under Schulman, PayPal set a course to be a one-stop shop for both e-commerce and financial services. The company spent billions of dollars on acquisitions, targeted expansion plans around the globe and at one point positioned itself to be a “super app” used by roughly one-10th of the world’s population.
The Covid boom in e-commerce was good news for PayPal, whose stock shot higher in 2020 and 2021. In July 2021, the company hit a peak market capitalization of more than $360 billion. After that, the momentum from the pandemic started to fade, and the company has lost more than $290 billion in market cap. It is currently valued around $70 billion.
Since then only one other company, Amazon.com, has lost more in market cap when measured by dollars, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Chriss is currently executive vice president and general manager of Intuit’s small business and self-employed group, which generates more than half of the TurboTax parent’s revenue.
Intuit on Monday said its chief technology officer, Marianna Tessel, would succeed Chriss as general manager of the small business and self-employed group, effective Sept. 5, with Alex Balazs, currently chief technology architect, moving up to chief technology officer.
PayPal shares rose about 2.4% Monday. Analysts said the announcement provided some clarity after months of uncertainty.
“There are still underlying fundamental issues to address for PayPal, but the announcement is a step in the right direction,” BTIG analysts wrote.
Write to Peter Rudegeair at [email protected] and Colin Kellaher at [email protected]
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