PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman plans to retire from the company on Dec. 31.
Schulman, who joined PayPal in 2014 and has led it since it separated from eBay and became an independent public company, told PayPal’s board of directors he will help with a smooth leadership transition and will continue to serve on the board, PayPal said in a Thursday (Feb. 9) press release.
“It has been a huge privilege to have the opportunity to lead this great company for the past 8½ years,” Schulman said in the release. “However, I’m at a point in my life where I want to devote more time to my passions outside the workplace.”
The board will retain a search firm to help find Schulman’s successor, according to the press release.
This news came on the same day that PayPal reported its fourth quarter and full year 2022 results and about a week after Schulman announced that the company will cut 2,000 jobs — 7% of its global workforce — over the coming weeks to further right-size the business.
PayPal has a very clear plan to continue its role as a catalyst for payments, Schulman told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster in an interview posted in 2021.
“I think we’ve [obviously] come a long way from the button,” Schulman said at the time. “We have a whole suite of services now that enable both consumers and merchants to … move into the digital era and thrive.”
PYMNTS research has found that PayPal leads other money-storing apps in consumer popularity.
Among consumers who are interested in storing money in a general-purpose app in the next 12 months, 85% said they would trust PayPal — a share far ahead of the 59% achieved by the second most-trusted provider, the consumers’ primary bank, according to “Money-Storing Apps Gain Favor with Consumers,” a PYMNTS and Treasury Prime collaboration.
PayPal reported in its press release that from 2015 to 2022, under Schulman’s leadership, the company’s revenues grew from $9.2 billion to $27.5 billion, its total active accounts more than doubled to 430 million and its total payment volume leapt from $288 billion to $1.36 trillion.
During that time, PayPal’s market cap growth outpaced the S&P 500, the release said.
“Dan has made an extraordinarily positive and lasting impact on PayPal and our people,” Chairman of the PayPal Board John Donahoe said in the release. “His decision to retire marks the end of a remarkable run that has seen impressive accomplishments in establishing PayPal as one of the world’s most trusted brands and as the leader in democratizing the management and movement of money.”