PayPal has abruptly replaced its chief executive and flagged weaker earnings for 2026, sending the global payments giant’s shares to their lowest level in almost a decade.

The company said its board removed CEO Alex Chriss due to concerns that “the pace of change and execution was not in line” with expectations.

Former HP chief executive Enrique Lores (pictured below) will take over as president and CEO from March 1. In the interim, chief financial and operating officer Jamie Miller will serve as CEO.

The leadership shake-up came alongside a softer earnings outlook, with PayPal warning that profit growth will slow after its higher-margin “branded checkout” business lost momentum late in 2025.

Its shares plunged more than 19% in US trading, extending a sell-off that has wiped more than half the company’s market value over the past year.

Branded checkout – the PayPal button used on merchant websites – grew payment volume by just 1% in the December quarter, down from 6% a year earlier. The business is seen as a key barometer of PayPal’s health because it generates some of the company’s strongest margins.

Miller (pictured below) told analysts the slowdown reflected weak retail spending, particularly among lower- and middle-income consumers, as well as internal execution issues.

“While macroeconomic pressures are real, we haven’t executed as well as we need to,” she said, pointing to challenges in merchant integration and deployment.

PayPal also pulled back from longer-term targets and said it now expects earnings per share to decline by a mid-single-digit percentage in the March quarter and across the 2026 financial year. Analysts had been forecasting growth.

In the December quarter, PayPal reported revenue of US$8.68 billion, up 4% but below expectations, while adjusted earnings per share of US$1.23 also missed forecasts.

Despite the challenges, PayPal highlighted stronger growth in Venmo and ongoing investments in areas such as buy now, pay later and AI-driven shopping tools.