Dive Brief:
- Digital payments pioneer PayPal said in a Tuesday press release that its chief financial officer, Blake Jorgensen, who has been on medical leave since September, will leave that role, effective Tuesday. He will remain as a senior adviser to the company until mid-September, according to the release.
- Gabrielle Rabinovitch, who has been acting CFO since September, will continue in that role, the company said in the release, without commenting on the search for a permanent successor.
- In a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday, PayPal referenced terms noting that Jorgensen is exiting as part of an “involuntary termination by the Company for a reason other than Cause or Disability,” per the terms of an executive severance plan laid out in an earlier February regulatory filing.
Dive Insight:
Jorgensen is stepping away from his CFO job about a month after the company announced that its long-time CEO, Dan Schulman, will retire from his post at the end of the year.
It’s been a tumultuous couple of years for the company with respect to management turnover, with its prior CFO, John Rainey resigning in April 2022 and Jorgensen stepping away from his duties for unspecified medical reasons just weeks after he was appointed in August of that year.
The San Jose, California-based company has been struggling to maintain growth rates that followed a surge in online consumer spending triggered by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In recent months, that increase has given way to economic duress that’s curtailing transactions.
While PayPal didn’t comment on why Jorgensen is exiting, its SEC filing referenced him being eligible for severance benefits under a qualifying termination per terms of the executive severance plan. The company and Jorgensen entered into a pact that also releases the company from future legal liabilities with respect to the ouster.
“The Company and Mr. Jorgensen entered into a separation agreement on March 3, 2023, which, in exchange for a release of claims and other valuable consideration, provides for the payment of severance benefits under Appendix A of the Plan,” the filing said.
That filing also noted that “Mr. Jorgensen’s decision does not reflect any dispute or disagreement with the Company.” Jorgensen’s compensation will remain the same as he continues in the senior adviser role for the next few months, the filing said.
