PayPal Poaches HP’s CEO in Rare Tech Leadership Raid – What HP Knows That We Don’t

By William Temple Published Feb 3, 8:30AM EST

Quick Read

PayPal (PYPL) poached HP (HPQ) CEO Enrique Lores after he delivered six consecutive quarters of revenue growth.
HP stock dropped 36% over the past year despite Lores beating Q4 revenue estimates at $14.64B.
PayPal stock fell 41% despite consistently beating earnings estimates. Branded checkout execution remained weak.

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PayPal Poaches HP’s CEO in Rare Tech Leadership Raid – What HP Knows That We Don’t — © JasonDoiy / Getty Images

PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL | PYPL Price Prediction) just did something nearly unheard of in Silicon Valley: it poached a sitting CEO from another public company. Enrique Lores, who led HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ) through six consecutive quarters of revenue growth, is now PayPal’s new chief executive as of February 3, 2026. This wasn’t a quiet retirement transition or a graceful succession plan. This was a raid.

Here’s what makes this move fascinating: HP is letting go of a CEO who just delivered a beat on Q4 2025 revenue at $14.64 billion versus consensus of $14.06 billion. Under Lores, HP’s Personal Systems segment grew 8% year-over-year in that quarter. Yet HP stock has cratered 36% over the past year and sits 11% below where it started 2026. That disconnect tells you everything: Lores was executing, but the market stopped believing in HP’s future.

PayPal, meanwhile, is bleeding. The stock has dropped 41% over the past year despite consistently beating earnings estimates. As we noted in today’s Daily Profit newsletter when covering semiconductor sector earnings volatility, execution beats don’t always translate to stock performance when investors lose faith in the business model. Interim CEO Jamie Miller admitted in their latest filing that “execution has not been where it needs to be, particularly in branded checkout.” That’s corporate-speak for “we’re losing to competitors.”

The strategic question is what HP’s board knows that the market doesn’t. They’re releasing a CEO who delivered operational wins but couldn’t reverse structural decline in a legacy hardware business. PayPal is betting Lores can do for fintech what he couldn’t finish at HP: modernize a mature business model before it becomes irrelevant. Watch how Lores addresses PayPal’s branded checkout struggles in his first 90 days. If he can’t articulate a credible AI-driven payments strategy by mid-2026, this expensive hire will look like desperation rather than vision.

About the Author William Temple →

I write to invest, and I invest to spend more time with nature. Usually all at the same time. I'm a retired equities guy who saw a recession or four, and lives for what comes out of the other side of them.

I cover stocks across the board cause even though I feel like I've seen it all, there's always another way out there to make, and lose money. I want to help you do more of the former, and none of the latter. Making money with friends is my oxygen.

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