PayPal Holdings has announced their selection of Alex Chriss, an executive from Intuit, as their new chief executive officer. With the payments company experiencing a significant decline in their stock value, investors are eagerly anticipating Chriss’ ability to reverse this trend.
Chriss, who currently leads Intuit’s Small Business and Self-Employed division, will officially assume his role as PayPal CEO on September 27th. PayPal stated that the extensive search process conducted by the board to find their next leader focused on securing a candidate with strong expertise in global payments, product development, and technology.
The current CEO, Dan Schulman, is set to retire by the end of this year as previously announced by PayPal. Schulman has been with the company since 2014 and successfully led the company through its separation from eBay. Although he will step down from his executive position, Schulman will continue to serve on PayPal’s board until May of next year.
At the time of this announcement, PayPal’s stock saw a 1.3% increase, reaching $62.33 in early trading on Monday. While the value of PayPal shares more than doubled under Schulman’s leadership, they have fallen considerably from their peak during the Covid-19 pandemic, when they exceeded $300. Concerns about declining profit margins and slower growth in active accounts have contributed to investor unease.