PayPal cuts its share count by about 9% as buybacks do the heavy lifting

The payments company is shrinking its share base to support per-share earnings while revenue growth crawls PayPal has fewer shares outstanding than it did at the start of the year. Quite a few fewer. Basic shares outstanding fell to 837 million as of September 30, 2026, down from 920 million at the end of 2025. That works out to a reduction of roughly 9% in nine months. The buyback math PayPal has spent between $6.0 billion and $6.1 billion repurchasing its own stock over the 12 months ending September 30, 2026. That money retired about 117 million shares. On a diluted basis, the share count dropped from 960 million to 858 million. That’s a reduction of approximately 11%. The third quarter alone accounted for $1.5 billion in buybacks, or about 28 million shares. PayPal reported those figures in its earnings release on October 27, 2026. Cumulative 2026 repurchases reached $4.55 billion by the end of September. That’s measured against a $6 billion full-year target, which management has maintained. The effect shows up clearly in the earnings line. Adjusted EPS climbed 8% year over year to $1.45 in Q3. Meanwhile, adjusted net income actually declined 3%, and revenue grew only 2%. From ...