PayPal Picks Intuit Executive as CEO. He Needs to Stop a Stock Slump.

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PayPal Holdings has named Inuit executive Alex Chriss as its next chief executive. Investors in the payments company will be hoping he can put a stop to a steep slide in its stock, which is losing gains made during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chriss will take up the role as CEO of

PayPal

(ticker: PYPL) on Sept. 27. He currently runs the Small Business and Self-Employed group for the business-software company

Intuit

(INTU).

“The appointment follows a thorough CEO search process, conducted by the Board over the last number of months, with the mandate to appoint a next generation leader with extensive global payments, product, and technology experience,” PayPal said in a statement.

PayPal previously said current CEO Dan Schulman would retire by the end of this year. He joined the company in 2014 and led the company following its separation from

eBay

(EBAY). Schulman will remain on PayPal’s board until May next year.

PayPal stock was up 1.3% at $62.33 in early trading on Monday. PayPal shares have more than doubled in Schulman’s tenure, but they trade far below their Covid-19 pandemic heights of more than $300 as investors worry about falling margins and slower growth in the number of active accounts.

Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com