PayPal's recent CEO will be Alex Chriss, the executive heading Intuit's small business and self-employed group

August 15, 2023: PayPal’s recent CEO will be Alex Chriss, the executive running the small business and self-employed group at Intuit, associates of PayPal’s board declared on Monday.

Chriss will take over for PayPal’s longtime CEO Dan Schulman beginning September 27. Schulman had previously announced a plan to step down from the role by this year-end. He will remain a director at the firm until May 2024.

“I am proud to take the baton from Dan and thrilled to have the opportunity to work with PayPal’s talented and committed team to build on PayPal’s remarkable history and draw on its unique capabilities to deliver outstanding outcomes and services to businesses and consumers,” Chriss said in a release Monday.

Shares of PayPal were up nearly 2% in morning trading Monday.

PayPal’s board said Chriss was chosen out of nine candidates. The selection process started in February. The board members said they were impressed by Chriss’ leadership at Intuit, mainly as he steered the company through its $12 billion acquisition of the marketing platform Mailchimp.

Board members also met with more than 20 investors, including activist investor Elliott Management, while searching for a new CEO. Last summer, Elliott Management accumulated an undisclosed stake in PayPal. The board members said the firm had no role in the search.

Schulman became PayPal’s CEO after the split from eBay in 2015, and he notified the firm of his decision to retire at the end of December of the previous year.

“I’m proud of what we have got at PayPal and of the immensely talented and committed people I work with daily,” Schulman stated, announcing his decision. “Together, we have reimagined fiscal services and e-commerce and worked to improve our customers’ financial health.”