Going it alone

A sale worth more than $50 billion collapsed this summer. CEO Enrique Lores is now building a plan to run PayPal as a stand-alone company, and plenty of investors doubt he can pull it off.

Fix, launch, cut

The plan has three parts: repair businesses that have struggled for years, ship new features, and cut billions in costs. PayPal has often moved first in payments without ever cashing in on its own ideas.

Venmo grows up

Lores wants to turn Venmo from a low-profit app into a full money-management tool, with budgeting and investing built in. Crypto trading and the PYUSD stablecoin are part of that push.

The button lost ground

PayPal's checkout business has slowed as Apple Pay and Google Wallet took over much of the digital wallet market. The fix he wants: a checkout button that is easier to use and more rewarding.

Sixty dollars, then fifty-three

Stripe and Advent International offered about $60.50 a share this summer and the stock jumped. The two sides could not agree on price, and shares have slid from above $62 back to around $53.

“What we have done is to first look at the strategy that we have, have confidence in the strategy that we have”

Paid to lift the stock

Lores, an HP veteran who took the job in February, earns a $25 million bonus if the stock averages above $68 for 60 days and over $60 million at $125. One analyst calls PayPal a melting ice cube.