PayPal Holdings Inc. publicized last week that its Chief Operating Office, William J. “Bill” Ready who has been a significant contributor to the firm’s growth will exit by the close of 2019 after serving for six years with the world-known online payment provider.
The sudden exit one of PayPal Holding Inc.’s top executives raised questions about the firm’s San Jose, California-based branch. By mid-morning this Tuesday, the branch’s stocks were trading at $116.73, a drop of 1.7 percent from last Thursday’s $118.79.
Bill Ready, who was second in the payment firm’s executive ladder, has transformed the payments environment in all the roles he held according to Thad Peterson, an e-commerce analyst at Boston-based Aite Group.
In an official media briefing on the matter, PayPal announced that Ready “will shift at the end of 2019 to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams outside the organization.”
The news release also stated that Bill Ready will resign from his official role as the executive vice president and COO on July 15, but will “keep working with major partners and PayPal’s management team until the close of 2019,” said president chief executive Dan Schulman.
Ready joined PayPal Holdings Inc. back in 2013 when eBay Inc., the mother company to PayPal at the time, shelled out a whopping $800 million to acquire the Chicago-based firm he led, Braintree an e-commerce service provider and parent company to Venmo P2P payments service.
Ready had served Braintree for two years at that time having joined in the firm in 2011 as stated in his LinkedIn profile. And he sure deserves some credit for Venmo’s rapid growth since then. The payment service now boasts of over 40 million users.
At PayPal, Ready played a significant role in many of the initiatives and mergers, and most market observers saw him as an obvious heir to Schulman’s presidency.
“Bill Ready was a creative touchstone that sped up the rupture of innovations we’ve witnessed at PayPal Holdings over the past years. PayPal will surely miss him, but I’m certain the payment sector will see more and more innovation from his intelligence in his future dealings,” said Thad Peterson of Aite Group.
The news release, however, did not disclose what Ready will be doing after his departure from PayPal, but he is optimistic PayPal will keep thriving.
“The transformative job we’ve been doing has placed PayPal in the path for future success. I am keyed up for PayPal’s future and dedicated to using the coming months to ensure a smooth switch, and support the excellent team at PayPal Holdings,” said Bill Ready in the press briefing.
Wrapping Up
Bill Ready’s resignation will leave a gap in PayPal’s leadership, but we hope that the payment giant will find an excellent replacement to hold his position.
Author Bio: Payment industry expert Taylor Cole is a passionate merchant account expert who understands the complicated world of accepting credit and debit cards at your business. His understanding of PayPal Micropayments UK has helped thousands of business owners save money and time.