This morning, the payments giant PayPal announced that, effective September 27, 2023, senior Intuit executive Alex Chriss will become its new President and CEO, replacing current CEO Dan Schulman. Members of PayPal’s board shared the news via a press release. The months-long CEO search process focused on finding a leader with experience in global payments, product, and technology.
Chriss has been a part of Intuit for 19 years, taking on more responsibilities as time went on. Since January 2019, he has held the position of Executive Vice President and General Manager of Intuit’s Small Business and Self-Employed Group. He has managed a global team of thousands of employees to ensure that products such as QuickBooks and Mailchimp reach their customers.
Chriss has demonstrated impressive leadership skills by growing customers and revenues at a compound annual growth rate of 20% and 23%, respectively. He also successfully led Intuit’s $12 billion acquisition of Mailchimp in 2021. PayPal’s board of directors and CEO search committee unanimously selected Chriss to replace longtime CEO Schulman, who announced his retirement at the end of last year.
The board chose Alex Chriss from a pool of nine candidates and met with more than 20 investors, including activist investor Elliott Management, according to CNBC’s report.
John Donahoe, Chair of the PayPal Board of Directors, stated that Alex Chriss is the ideal leader for taking PayPal forward and driving the company’s growth prospects due to his extensive product development knowledge, dedication to serving customers, and long history of motivating and empowering small businesses. He also has a demonstrated record of developing and motivating his team.
The Board search committee worked persistently and carefully to identify the ideal candidate to lead PayPal into its next stage of growth and expansion, and we are sure Alex is the right person for the job.
PayPal announced that it will reinvest roughly $600 million in projects such as passwordless checkout, one-click in-app experiences, and leveraging AI for advanced checkout flows.
Donahoe also praised current CEO Schulman for his “outstanding leadership” during PayPal’s eight years of growth as an independent company. He stated, “Dan made many major contributions to PayPal and helped build a strong foundation for the future.”
In 2014, Schulman joined PayPal after its separation from eBay. During his tenure as CEO, he drove PayPal’s growth from $9.2 billion in revenue in 2015 to $27.5 billion in 2022 and increased total active accounts from 200 million to over 430 million in 200 markets. Additionally, Schulman increased total payment volume from $288 billion in 2015 to $1.36 trillion in 2022.
Schulman expressed his pride in what he and his fellow PayPal team members have achieved, stating we have revolutionized financial services and e-commerce, and worked to improve the financial health of our customers. PayPal is truly making a difference in the lives of our customers and their communities every day, and the Company is poised for a bright future.”
Schulman said, I feel honoured to have been the leader of this outstanding company for the past 8 1/2 years. Now, I am ready to devote more time to my interests outside of work. I am fully committed to working with the Board and my successor to ensure a seamless transition and that we continue our progress. Schulman will stay on PayPal’s board until the next annual meeting of stockholders in May 2024.
Read More: Technology News
PayPal’s news is prompting positive reactions from investors, pushing the stock up almost 2% this morning.
