Walmart hires PayPal’s Rainey as CFO to succeed Biggs

Bloomberg

Walmart named PayPal Holdings Chief Financial Officer as its new finance chief, turning to a company outsider as it seeks to build a financial-technology venture and a membership program.
Rainey will start his new job June 6, Walmart said in a statement. A veteran of United Airlines who jumped to PayPal in 2015, Rainey will replace Brett Biggs, who last year announced plans to leave Walmart by early 2023.
The new CFO will take over as the world’s largest retailer grapples with soaring inflation, supply-chain headaches and rising US labour costs. The company has also seen healthy sales gains during the pandemic period, although its performance has fallen short of rivals such as Target Corp and Costco Wholesale Corp.
Two big projects await Rainey. One is Walmart’s plan to provide a fintech app that enables customers to save, borrow and receive money. The other is expansion of its paid membership program — Walmart+ — that is widely seen as an answer to Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime.
“John’s mix of financial and digital acumen, coupled with his experience leading finance in complex, highly competitive industries, will help us deliver for our customers and shareholders as we continue to transform our company,” Walmart Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon said in the statement.
Rainey will remain with PayPal until late May, when Gabrielle Rabinovitch, senior vice president for corporate finance and investor relations, will take over as interim CFO.
The payments giant’s board has started a formal search process to replace Rainey, who was also the executive vice president for global customer operations at PayPal. That team will now join the risk, legal and customer operations organisation led by Aaron Karczmer.
“We’re not surprised that one of the world’s top brands has recognised John and his contributions to building PayPal into one of the most innovative technology and financial services companies in the world,” PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said in a statement.
Alongside Schulman, Rainey helped refashion PayPal into a financial behemoth that ended last year with more than 420 million active accounts. The San Jose, California-based company now processes more than $1 trillion a year in payments.
PayPal — long known for its payment buttons on retailers’ online checkout pages — has added savings accounts and the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrencies to its app.