Digital payments giant PayPal Holdings on Monday named Alex Chriss, a top executive at tax-preparation software firm Intuit, its next CEO as it looks to grab a bigger share of the payments market for small businesses.
"We believe experience sounds highly relevant to PayPal as it reemphasizes focus on small merchants and launches PayPal Complete Payments," William Blair analysts wrote in a note.According to Wolfe Research, the biggest accomplishment of Chriss at Intuit was the company's US$12-billion acquisition and integration of Mailchimp in 2021.
"We see this as a key positive, given a main concern from investors about PayPal is the company's lacklustre record with acquiring and integrating assets in recent years," Wolfe Research analyst Darrin Peller said.Weak margins at PayPal have brought cost-cutting measures to the forefront of conversations among investors, and analysts are also worried about the competition in the buy now, pay later space from technology goliath Apple.
Chriss's appointment may have generated excitement about PayPal's M&A ambitions, but the issue of underwhelming margin at the San Jose, California-based company is expected to be a dampener.