PayPal’s long-time board chair, John Donahoe, resigned “effective immediately” Tuesday, and was replaced by another board member, Enrique Lores, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

The San Jose, California-based company also reduced its board size to 11 members in the wake of Donahoe’s exit, according to the filing. Donahoe, who is the CEO of shoe-maker Nike, had served on the PayPal board since 2015 and had seen the company through its break-up with digital marketplace eBay, where he was previously CEO. 

The board changes come as the digital payments company is adjusting to the appointment last year of a new CEO, Alex Chriss, who has been remaking PayPal’s management team as he sets a new course for the business. Chriss was appointed after PayPal’s long-time CEO, Dan Schulman, stepped down from that role in March of last year, and left the board at the end of last year. 

Donahoe had overseen Schulman’s work for nearly a decade from his perch on the board, watching the company struggle to grow in recent years.

"It's been an honor to be a part of PayPal's story for the past 16 years, first as CEO of eBay and as PayPal’s Board Chair for the past nine years,” Donahoe said in a Thursday press release. “Enrique’s expertise in corporate transformation and broad understanding of the technology ecosystem makes him an ideal next chair to work with the rest of the Board and Alex as PayPal continues to define its next chapter.”

Chriss has said this will be a transition year for PayPal as he seeks to revamp the business and jump-start profitable growth. In January, he gave a preview of his next moves, including increased use of biometrics; expedited check-out experiences; and better use of purchase data for merchant promotions. He has also signaled he may shed ancillary business units.

PayPal has benefitted from Lores’ “expertise in consumer and enterprise technology,”  and his experience “transforming HP” will aid him in the chair role, Chriss said in the release. The CEO also thanked Donahoe for his service as chair, noting his “strategic direction and steady leadership.”

Donahoe didn’t have “any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to its operations, policies or practices,” the SEC filing noted.

In the same SEC filing, PayPal also disclosed, separately, that the board’s compensation committee decided Wednesday to amend the company’s executive change in control and severance plan. The changes will reduce benefits and payouts for executives that are terminated in situations other than a change in control of the company.

By Lynne Marek on July 26, 2024
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