Intuit executive Alex Chriss to replace PayPal’s outgoing CEO Dan Schulman

Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Payment services company PayPal said Monday that Alex Chriss, a senior executive at software firm Intuit, will become the next president and CEO, replacing outgoing Dan Schulman.

Schulman joined PayPal in 2015 when it broke off from eBay. He said earlier this year that he'd step down before the end of 2023, prompting PayPal to launch a "thorough" search by the board of directors for a replacement.

Chriss is a senior executive at Intuit and will join PayPal and its board by September 27. Among his highlights was steering the $12 billion acquisition of Mailchimp in 2021.

"Throughout my career, I have championed small and medium businesses and entrepreneurs, who are the backbone of every economy in the world," Chriss said.

His appointment came with unanimous support from the board of directors, which had a mandate to find a "next generation leader" to steer the company forward.

PayPal during the second quarter reported $7.3 billion in net revenue, a 7.3% improvement over the same period last year. Total payment volume reached $376.5 billion, an 11% increase over year-ago levels.

Net revenue is expected to reach $7.4 billion during the third quarter.

That's a sharp reversal from the first quarter, when the company cited a "competitive landscape" when opting to trim 7% of its workforce.

Outgoing CEO Schulman will retain a position on the board of directors until May 2024.

"Dan made many major contributions to PayPal and helped establish the strong foundation for the future," Board Chairman John Donahoe said. "Our board and our leadership team are looking forward to working with Alex to continue to fulfill PayPal's potential as one of the world's leading digital payments platforms and to expand the value we create for our customers and shareholders."

Shares in PayPal (PYPL) were up 2.37% as of 11:40 a.m. EDT to trade at $63.