On February 3, 2026, PayPal reported adjusted earnings of $1.23 per share and revenue of $8.68 billion for the fourth quarter, missing consensus estimates of $1.29 per share and $8.79 billion in revenue. Transaction volume rose 9% year-over-year to $475.1 billion (6% on a constant-currency basis), while active accounts edged up 1.1% to 439 million. Management warned that first-quarter earnings would decline by a mid-single-digit percentage and projected full-year earnings of $5.75 per share, slightly above the $5.73 consensus but reflecting further pressure on margins as the company invests in platform upgrades and loyalty programs.

In response to what the board described as an insufficient pace of change and execution, PayPal named Enrique Lores—former chair of PayPal’s board and six-year CEO of HP Inc.—as president and chief executive officer effective March 1, 2026. Interim CEO Jamie Miller, the company’s chief financial and operating officer, acknowledged that branded checkout growth had decelerated to 1% in the quarter, down from 5% in Q3, due to U.S. retail softness, international headwinds and slow merchant integration. Lores’s mandate will be to streamline execution, accelerate checkout redesign rollouts with biometric and passkey authentication, and deepen partnerships that present PayPal higher up in the online checkout flow.

Shareholder-rights firm Johnson Fistel, PLLP has launched an inquiry into whether PayPal and its officers complied with federal securities laws when disclosing these earnings misses and the CEO change. The investigation follows an intraday decline of over 18% in the stock price after the announcements, which reportedly caused investor losses. The firm is inviting any PayPal shareholder who suffered losses during the relevant period to join the probe at no cost or obligation, seeking potential recovery under federal securities statutes.