My aunt Carol, God love her, still sends me checks. Actual, paper checks. She’s convinced everything digital is a scam, a plot to steal her social security. I tried explaining PayPal, how it’s just a slightly more efficient way to avoid stamps, but she just narrowed her eyes and said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Which, honestly, felt like a surprisingly astute observation, given the events of Tuesday.
PayPal (PYPL 20.31%) closed at $41.70, down a rather substantial 20.31%. It’s funny, isn’t it? We build these elaborate systems, these digital cathedrals of convenience, and then they just… falter. The volume was insane – 139 million shares traded. That’s like everyone suddenly remembering they owned stock in the company, or, more likely, realizing they hadn’t sold when they should have. It’s been ten years since the IPO. Ten years. That’s… not nothing. Though, admittedly, not exactly a rocket ship, either.
The S&P 500 slipped a bit (.84%), and the Nasdaq Composite took a bigger tumble (1.43%). It’s always a bit unsettling when the broader market decides to join the party. Like a polite guest arriving late to a rather disastrous event. Fiserv (FISV 7.71%) got dragged down too, which just proves that misery loves company. And apparently, so do payment processing companies.
The problem, as near as I can tell, is that PayPal didn’t quite meet expectations. Revenue of $6.7 billion and earnings per share of $1.23. Numbers. They always seem so… detached from reality. Like measuring the temperature of a heartbreak. And then, to add insult to injury, they lowered the profit outlook for the year. It’s a bit like announcing, mid-dinner, that you’ve accidentally burned the dessert.
And then there’s the CEO. Alex Chriss is out, replaced by Enrique Lores, formerly of HP (HPQ 4.09%). A change at the top always feels… dramatic. Like a captain abandoning ship. Though, in this case, perhaps he just needed a different ship. One that wasn’t taking on quite so much water.
It’s easy to panic, to see this as some sort of impending doom. But honestly? It’s just a reminder that even the most sophisticated systems are fragile. And that sometimes, a paper check, sent with a little bit of love (and a lot of postage), is a perfectly acceptable way to do business. I might even call Aunt Carol. Just to check in. And maybe ask her for some stamps.
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2026-02-04 02:33