Dan Schulman doesn't just run companies. He tries to rewire them.
If you’ve been following the news lately, you probably saw that the former PayPal CEO Dan Schulman has officially started his new chapter as the CEO of Verizon. It’s a massive move that happened in late 2025, taking many by surprise despite his long tenure on their board. But to understand why Verizon—a telecom titan grappling with a shifting 5G landscape—tapped a "payments guy," you have to look at what he actually did during his nearly ten years at PayPal.
Most people just think of PayPal as that button you click to buy stuff on eBay. Under Schulman, it became something much weirder and more ambitious. He took the reins in 2014 when the company was basically an appendage of eBay and turned it into a $30 billion revenue powerhouse.
The Martial Artist in the Boardroom
You won't find many Fortune 500 executives who spend their mornings training in Krav Maga. Schulman does. He often talks about how the philosophy of the Israeli martial art—staying calm under pressure, moving forward, and being decisive—influences his leadership. Honestly, he needed that grit.
When he took over PayPal, the company was at a crossroads. It was spinning off from eBay. It had a massive user base but was losing its "cool" factor to sleek startups like Stripe and Square. Schulman didn't just focus on the code; he focused on the mission. He’s obsessed with "financial inclusion." It sounds like a buzzword, but he actually put money behind it.
One of the most radical things he did was the Employee Financial Wellness initiative.
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Basically, Schulman realized that a huge chunk of his own employees—the people answering customer service calls—were struggling to make ends meet. Even though they were paid "market wages," they were often one car breakdown away from disaster. He didn't just say "that's life." He slashed the cost of healthcare for hourly workers, increased their wages, and gave everyone equity in the company.
The result? Productivity went up. Churn went down. It was a live experiment in stakeholder capitalism that actually worked.
What Dan Schulman Actually Accomplished at PayPal
By the time he stepped down in late 2023, the numbers were kind of staggering.
- Revenue Growth: He tripled revenue from $8 billion to roughly $30 billion.
- User Base: He grew the platform to 435 million active accounts.
- Market Presence: He led the acquisition of Honey for $4 billion and expanded Venmo's reach so far that it became a verb.
But it wasn't all sunshine. By 2023, the stock price was taking a beating. Growth was slowing down. Investors were getting twitchy. There’s a persistent debate about whether he stayed too long or if the post-pandemic "hangover" in e-commerce was just an impossible wave to ride.
Schulman’s departure was a bit of a rollercoaster too. He announced his retirement in early 2023, but then had an emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix right as he was handing the keys over to the new guy, Alex Chriss. It was a sobering reminder that even the most high-powered CEOs are, well, human.
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The Verizon Pivot
Now, in 2026, he’s steering Verizon.
Why? Because the lines between "telecom" and "finance" are blurring. Your phone is your wallet. Verizon is increasingly looking at financial services—like their partnership with Santander—to keep customers from jumping ship to T-Mobile. They needed someone who understands how money moves through a digital pipe.
Schulman is already talking about "the three waves": AI, Quantum Computing, and Humanoid Robotics. He’s betting that Verizon can be the backbone for all of it. It’s a huge gamble. Verizon has been bleeding postpaid subscribers, and the acquisition of Frontier Communications is a $20 billion headache that he now has to manage.
What Most People Get Wrong
People think Schulman is just a "social justice CEO" because he’s so vocal about DEI and stakeholder equity. That’s a mistake. He’s an operator.
Look at his history before PayPal:
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- AT&T: Spent 18 years there. He knows the telecom "pipes."
- Priceline: He was the CEO who took them from $20 million in revenue to almost $1 billion.
- Virgin Mobile: He built the prepaid business from scratch.
He’s a builder who happens to believe that if you don't treat your employees like humans, your business will eventually fail. It’s a pragmatic kind of empathy.
Actionable Insights from Schulman’s Playbook
If you’re a leader or an entrepreneur, you can actually learn a lot from how he operates. He doesn't just follow the "maximize shareholder value at all costs" mantra.
- Audit your "Net Disposable Income": Schulman’s team measured how much money employees had left after taxes and essential living expenses. If it was less than 20%, he considered it a business risk. You should do the same for your team.
- Mission as a Moat: PayPal stayed relevant because it stood for something—helping the "unbanked." When customers feel like a company has a soul, they stay longer.
- The Power of the Pivot: He moved PayPal from a "checkout button" to a full financial app. Don't be afraid to change your core identity if the market shifts.
- Physical Discipline: He credits his martial arts training for his mental clarity. Find a high-discipline outlet outside of the office to keep your head straight.
We’re currently watching the "Second Act" of Dan Schulman's career play out in real-time. Whether he can turn Verizon around the same way he scaled PayPal is the multi-billion dollar question. But if his past is any indication, he won't be doing it quietly.
If you're looking to apply these principles, start by looking at your own company's churn. Is it a product problem, or is it a "soul" problem? Schulman would argue it's usually the latter. Focus on the people, and the profit usually follows—eventually.
Next Steps for You:
- Review your team’s compensation not against "market rates," but against local "living costs."
- Identify one area in your business where you can "do well by doing good"—a social initiative that also drives a business metric.
- Study Verizon’s upcoming earnings calls to see how Schulman is integrating his "financial inclusion" philosophy into the telecom space.