PayPal’s new chief outlines plans

PayPal’s new CEO, Alex Chriss, outlined his priorities during an earnings call shortly after taking on the role. Chriss expressed the need to make the digital payments company more profitable by streamlining the business and controlling costs. He emphasised that the company’s cost base is too high, slowing down its progress, and he aims to evaluate profitable growth priorities to enhance efficiency and innovation.

To support the company’s new approach to expense management, PayPal appointed a new Chief Financial Officer, Jamie Miller, who will take up the role in November. The company also reported third-quarter earnings, with a 23% decline in net income to $1.02 billion compared to the previous year, while revenue increased by 8.3% to $7.4 billion.

Chriss discussed the need for technology consolidation, including integrating past acquisitions and increasing automation across the organisation. While focusing on maximising impact for customers, the CEO emphasised the challenges posed by competition and complexity, acknowledging the company’s need to clarify its focus.

The top priority for Chriss is to revamp the checkout experience, aiming to provide more value to consumers with each purchase. He also highlighted the importance of completing work on a new service called “PayPal Complete Payments,” designed to increase the company’s average profit margin by targeting small and mid-sized businesses.

Chriss plans to expand offerings to small businesses once “PayPal Complete Payments” is successfully scaled globally. He also aims to provide more personalised services by leveraging the vast amount of customer data that PayPal has collected.

Regarding the Braintree business and larger corporate customers, Chriss intends to sell them additional services, such as payouts, fraud management, chargeback automation, and foreign currency exchange. The focus is on pursuing profitable growth opportunities by evolving into an end-to-end solutions platform for consumers and merchants.

While Chriss praised PayPal’s employees, he acknowledged the need to bring in new talent to help achieve his goals. He plans to provide a more detailed strategy during the next earnings call in February.