PYPL: Shock Who?

(NASDAQ:PYPL) PayPal Presents First Look Event

PayPal Holdings

Weighting as of writing: 4%

25th January 2024 - First Look Presentation

On January 25th, ahead of the February earnings call, PayPal presented a first look at the innovations the new CEO, Alex Chriss, claimed would “shock the world” in a CNBC interview last week1. The filing issued in the lead-up was sparse, and simply stated that PayPal and Venmo would “revolutionize commerce again through AI-driven personalization for both consumers and merchants”. I was sceptical. The presentation was streamed live on YouTube and revealed six “innovations” to be expected from PayPal this year. As many assumed, it was a somewhat lacklustre event, despite showing promise for the roadmap of PayPal’s flagship products.

It amounted to a 17-minute presentation that had all the feel of a budget Apple event. The media had a field day with headlines pointing to the relative lack of shock factor. No matter how many times the word “revolutionize” was spoken, I don’t think anyone bought it. Semanti…