PayPal hires former Apple exec to lead marketing

By John Adams January 14, 2019, 5:08 p.m. EST 1 Min Read

Marketing and venture capital veteran Allison Johnson will become PayPal's executive vice president and chief marketing officer — a new role at the payments company as it expands and diversifies services.

Johnson most recently was founder and managing partner at West, a hybrid marketing and venture capital firm whose clients included Square, Twitter, Poynt, and Braintree, prior to its acquisition by PayPal in 2013

PayPal signage is displayed in front of eBay Inc. headquarters in San Jose, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. EBay Inc. is spinning off its PayPal division, heeding demands by activist shareholder Carl Icahn and giving the business independence it can use to contend with rising competition from Apple Inc. and Google Inc. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

She also served as Apple's vice president of worldwide marketing communications from 2005 to 2011, helping lead strategies to market the iPod, iPhone and App store. Before joining Apple, Johnson was senior vice president of global brand marketing at HP.

Johnson joins PayPal as it tries to monetize Venmo, the company's popular P2P app that has its roots as a Braintree acquisition. Venmo has signed partnership and marketing deals with Amex and Uber.

PayPal has also spent heavily over the past year in the merger and acquisition market as it faces increased competition from Square and Stripe.

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