Global payments giant PayPal has appointed Enrique Lores as its next President and Chief Executive Officer, effective March 1, 2026, replacing Alex Chriss, as the company grapples with slowing growth and missed earnings expectations.
The leadership change was announced on Tuesday, the same day PayPal released its fourth-quarter 2025 results, which fell short of market forecasts across key performance metrics.
PayPal reported Q4 revenue of $8.68 billion, below analysts’ expectations of $8.79 billion, underscoring mounting pressure on the company to accelerate execution amid intensifying competition in the global payments space.
In a statement, PayPal said the decision reflected the Board’s view that the company’s pace of change and execution “was not in line with expectations,” given shifting market dynamics and rapid technological evolution.
The Board emphasised the need for faster execution, sharper strategic focus, and more decisive leadership as competition heats up and digital payments continue to evolve.
Lores joins PayPal after more than six years as President and CEO of HP Inc., where he led major strategic transformations, expanded services revenue, and positioned the company around future-of-work solutions.
In his first public comments as incoming CEO, Lores said his priority would be to accelerate innovation, strengthen execution, and reinforce PayPal’s relevance in global digital commerce.
“The payments industry is changing faster than ever, and PayPal sits at the centre of this change,” Lores said, citing emerging technologies, evolving regulation, and growing competition as forces reshaping the sector.
The PayPal Board said it remains confident that the company’s long-term success lies in its global scale, proprietary data, and deep consumer, merchant, and partner relationships, supported by faster and higher-quality execution.
The Board also thanked outgoing CEO Alex Chriss for his contributions over the past two and a half years, including efforts to monetise Venmo, expand the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) business, and modernise the PayPal platform.
The leadership shake-up comes as PayPal continues to expand its international footprint, including a notable return to Nigeria after more than two decades of limited operations.
Last week, PayPal re-entered the Nigerian market through a partnership with local fintech firm Paga, allowing users to link PayPal accounts directly to Paga wallets.
The integration enables cross-border payments, dollar balances, local currency withdrawals, global online shopping, and everyday transactions such as bill payments and bank transfers.
Nigerian merchants and small businesses also gain access to PayPal’s global network of over 400 million users, potentially unlocking new international trade opportunities.
PayPal had restricted Nigerian accounts to “send-only” mode since 2004, citing fraud and compliance concerns, effectively blocking inbound payments for nearly two decades.
While PayPal’s return has been welcomed as a boost to financial inclusion and global earning opportunities for freelancers and businesses, it has also attracted mixed reactions.
Some Nigerians remain sceptical, questioning the timing and strategy behind the platform’s re-entry after years of restricted access.
Still, analysts view the Paga partnership as a pragmatic step toward closing long-standing gaps in global payments, with the potential to increase foreign currency inflows and support Nigeria’s broader digital economy.
