PayPal slashes outgoing CEO Schulman’s pay 31% to US$22 million

PAYPAL Holdings cut outgoing chief executive officer (CEO) Dan Schulman’s pay by 32 per cent for last year after failing to meet its financial targets.

Schulman was awarded US$22 million in compensation for 2022, including about US$20.2 million in stock awards, the San Jose, California-based company said on Thursday (Apr 13) in a filing. That compares with US$32 million a year earlier.

The company failed to meet targets it set for key metrics, including revenue, adjusted operating margin and net new active users, the board compensation committee said. Still, it commended Schulman for leading PayPal “through a challenging period of macroeconomic uncertainty, geopolitical instability, slowing e-commerce growth and a return to pre-pandemic consumer behaviours”.

Schulman announced in February plans to retire at year-end and the board said it would enlist a search firm to find a successor. He’s leaving the payments giant as it struggles with a slowdown in growth across platforms and a months-long slump in its stock price.

At its annual meeting later next month, when shareholders will vote on the board’s proposed pay for Schulman and other top executives, the company will face a series of shareholder proposals related to its practices.

Tara Health Foundation urged shareholders to vote in favour of a proposal that would require PayPal to issue a report on its work to fulfil requests from law enforcement officials looking to enforce state laws that criminalise abortions. PayPal urged shareholders to vote against the proposal, noting officials can “only obtain customer information pursuant to proper legal service and the validity of each request is thoroughly evaluated prior to the sharing of any information”.

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Another proposal would force the company to explain its decision-making process behind account suspensions and closures, noting the company has been accused of banning legal sex workers’ access to PayPal services.

“PayPal consistently employs objective, narrowly tailored policies to address account suspension and closure, and those policies are based on ensuring the safety of our customers and protecting PayPal’s legitimate business interests,” the company said in response, urging shareholders to vote down the proposal. BLOOMBERG