PayPal cuts staff under Enrique Lores as it chases USD 400m of run-rate savings after the failed Stripe bid

PayPal confirmed on 1 September 2026 that it has cut staff as part of the cost programme announced in May, declining to give a number or percentage. The company is targeting USD 400m of run-rate savings by the end of 2026, weighted to the fourth quarter, and describes the reductions as part of a multi-year transformation to simplify global operations.

The cuts land weeks after Stripe and Advent International abandoned their USD 53bn approach, and under Enrique Lores, who became CEO in March 2026 and is steering the company toward financial services, Venmo and margin.

PayPal is the default alternative payment method in most European checkouts and the incumbent Wero, Klarna and pay-by-bank are trying to displace; a company cutting to a margin target is a company with less to spend defending that position. The sequencing matters too: the takeover collapsed, and the standalone plan that follows is cost, not growth. For European PSPs and methods, this is the clearest opening in PayPal's checkout share in years.

Whether Q4 results show the savings arriving without volume loss, where the cuts fall relative to the European merchant business, and whether PayPal responds to Wero's e-commerce push with pricing or with retreat.

• paymentsdive.com