PayPal Replaces CEO With HP Vet Who Managed Company Breakup

PayPal sprang a surprise on investors Tuesday morning (Feb. 3), unveiling a CEO change during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.

PayPal said it has named Enrique Lores to lead the next phase of its strategy, replacing Alex Chriss as the board presses for faster execution in a more crowded payments market.

PayPal Holdings’ board appointed Lores as president and CEO, effective March 1, according to a Tuesday press release . Lores has served on PayPal’s board for nearly five years and has been board chair since July 2024. PayPal Chief Financial and Operating Officer Jamie Miller will serve as interim CEO until Lores assumes the role.

The board also appointed David W. Dorman as independent board chair, effective immediately, the release said.

The decision followed a board review that found “some progress” but concluded that the pace of change and execution “was not in line with the board’s expectations,” according to the release.

PayPal is turning to Lores, who has served for more than six years as president and CEO of HP , where he led a shift beyond PCs and printing into services, subscriptions and artificial intelligence-enabled offerings, the release said. He also helped architect and build on the separation of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP, tightening operating discipline and simplifying costs.

The company thanked Chriss for efforts that included monetizing Venmo and growing buy now, pay later (BNPL), per the release.

“Now is the right time to make a transition to a seasoned leader who can take the company through its next phase of transformation,” Chriss said in the release.

The CEO change landed as PYMNTS has tracked PayPal’s push into new growth engines and partnerships.

In January, PayPal launched a Transaction Graph Insights & Measurement program aimed at helping brands measure campaigns using verified purchase data.

PayPal also plans to acquire Cymbio to expand agentic commerce tools that make merchant catalogs discoverable on AI platforms.

Also last month, PayPal expanded its partnership with Deutsche Bank to scale merchant settlement, payouts and related services across regions.

In September, PayPal sold about $7 billion in BNPL loans to Blue Owl Capital as it looks to stay balance-sheet light.