Recap: Longtime HP company man Enrique Lores is leaving to take the top position at PayPal after serving on the financial firm's board for nearly five years. Lores joined HP as an intern in the engineering department in 1989 and has held multiple positions with the company since. In 2019, he was appointed as president and CEO and was named PayPal's board chair in July 2024.
During his time as HP CEO, he helped the company expand beyond its traditional PC and printing businesses into services and subscriptions. HP has also made strides in AI-enabled offerings under his leadership.
The executive will replace Alex Chriss effective March 1, 2026. Chriss joined PayPal as its CEO in late 2023, ending a 19-year career with financial services firm Intuit. PayPal said its board conducted a detailed evaluation of the business, and compared the position of their company to others in the same field. The team concluded that while progress had been made in some areas over the last two years, the pace of change and execution fell short of the board's expectations.
Credit: App Economy Insights
HP has named Bruce Broussard, a board member since 2021, as interim CEO until a permanent replacement is selected. Broussard has more than 30 years of leadership experience under his belt, and most recently served as chief executive of healthcare firm Humana. HP said it has hired a leading search firm to help locate its next CEO, but no timeline was given for the process.
Sources familiar with the matter told Semafor that HP was "blindsided" by the departure of Lores. Executives immediately launched a search for a replacement, and reportedly have internal candidates up for consideration.
Shares in HP Inc. are down 4.52 percent as of writing, but PayPal's stock has dropped nearly 20 percent on the news. It's also worth mentioning that PayPal's just-released earnings report included a weak forecast for 2026 which, combined with the sudden leadership change, clearly has investors feeling uneasy.