00:00It's interesting that the shares dropped 17, 18 percent in the early session. Is this because
00:06they're concerned about Enrique Loras? Or, I mean, do they expect the new CEO to throw everything out?
00:13Well, PayPal has had a really interesting story, I would say, over the last couple of years. I think
00:18analysts have really closely watched the company for indication of some kind of a turnaround,
00:24whether it's in branded checkout in particular. That's been an area that has been watched very
00:31closely. And, you know, PayPal has made some progress in components of its business, like
00:38Venmo and BNPL, or buy now, pay later options. But I think that it, as the CFO, now interim CEO,
00:49Jamie Miller, said this morning, she made it very clear that there was a timeline that just
00:53hadn't been met. And the CEO, Alex Criss, essentially didn't execute in a timely manner.
01:01And that resulted in Jamie Miller taking home Bruce's interim CEO. And Enrique Loras,
01:08the HP CEO, will step into the role permanently.
01:11What do we know about Enrique Loras? I realize PayPal also had poor results, but man,
01:15it just sucks. You're announced as CEO, and then you're like, oh, the shares are down 18 percent
01:19after that. Significantly down. And I think that it is, you know, we kind of joke that PayPal shares,
01:25you have to watch them very closely around earnings, because even if it seems like over
01:30the past few quarters, there were instances where there were beats and core components of the
01:35business and shares plummeted soon after earnings were reported. But yes, I, you know, Enrique Loras
01:40is coming over to PayPal from after a, you know, a long run at HP. So we'll have to see how he fares.
01:48But I will say, you know, our focus has been on PayPal primarily at the moment.
01:52The stock, I mean, I don't know if we pulled up a five-year chart. It's down 83 percent over the
01:57past five years. And it's no surprise. It's like the MySpace of payment methods, because obviously,
02:05Venmo is first and foremost, but you've got new competitors like Apple Pay. You've got bank
02:11competitors like Zelle. I mean, there was a time when PayPal was inextricably linked to eBay, but
02:17that time is long gone. So what's their edge now? What's their unique selling point?
02:23Well, so you did mention Venmo, and Venmo is a major business for PayPal. But I think you also hit on a
02:29point there that was, you know, a lot of consumers know and love Venmo very well. But it is, it was a
02:36long period of time of Venmo just sort of sitting consistently and not really innovating significantly.
02:43And then, you know, Alex Chris stepped into the role a bit over two years ago and, you know, really
02:50tried to lean in to monetize that business. And we have seen progress there. But kind of, as you
02:55mentioned, there were, you know, we have not seen this, the amount of growth, or rather, the board
03:01certainly didn't see the amount of growth in PayPal branded checkout, that is, was sort of like the
03:06best known, used to be the best known business of checkout of PayPal. And unfortunately, that growth
03:13just hasn't been as, as significant as they wanted it.
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