Three years after taking over management of Stone, Pedro Zinner is stepping down as CEO and moving to the board of directors. He will be replaced by Mateus Scherer, the company's current CFO and director of investor relations.
The change in leadership will take effect at the end of March. In early April, Zinner will be nominated to rejoin the board of directors and subsequently assume the chairmanship of the board. With this, Mauricio Luchetti will return to his position as a board member.
The main mission of the next CEO, from now on, is to expand the company's operations, still very strong in the payments sector, into the areas of banking and credit. According to him, the idea is to continue executing the plan outlined until 2027.
“The company has a very clear strategic direction, and has long had it, to move beyond being just a payment provider and become a complete financial services platform for entrepreneurs,” says Scherer, in an interview with NeoFeed .
“And when we look at other areas beyond the payments sector, we are still small and see a huge avenue for growth. We want to have the same relevance in all these segments,” he adds.
Scherer's statement is based on the company's results so far in these areas, which still have growth potential to reach the target set for the next two years.
In its loan portfolio, for example, Stone aims to reach R$ 5.5 billion by the end of 2027. In the balance sheet for the third quarter of 2025, this figure exceeded R$ 2.3 billion.
The leap has already been significant in the last two years: in 2023, the volume reached R$ 300 million, rising to R$ 1.2 billion in 2024. In this period alone, portfolio growth exceeded 600%.
According to the incoming CEO, it's possible to advance just over R$3 billion in this segment over the next 23 months, despite the challenging macroeconomic scenario, with interest rates at 15% per year. "The important thing is to look back and understand how we've progressed," says Scherer.
In the banking division, Stone reached R$ 9 billion in deposit balances, according to its third-quarter 2025 balance sheet, a 32% increase over the same period of the previous year. Guidance for the end of 2027 forecasts a total of R$ 14 billion in accounts.
For Zinner, who joined the company in March 2022 as a board member and as CEO from March 2023, the decision to sell Linx for R$ 3.05 billion to Totvs in June of last year, at a 54% discount on the price paid, was one of the most significant actions during his time leading the company.
“We had been trying to integrate, but we reversed the idea. This means that we are now simplifying Stone's operation, focusing on what we consider the company's core business , which is being a diversified financial platform,” says the future chairman.
In addition to the departures of Zinner and Scherer, the game of musical chairs at Stone continues in other positions, with changes among existing staff. Diego Salgado, the current treasury director, will become the new CFO and director of investor relations. Lia Matos, responsible for strategy, is leaving the company.
Sandro Bassili, who is still leading Linx's operations, will become Stone's COO shortly after the closingof the transaction, which, according to the company, is imminent but does not yet have a set date.
According to the outgoing CEO, the transition process was conducted in a natural and planned manner. "We made important moves now, but without bringing in outside names. This is part of Stone's own maturity," says Zinner. "There wasn't one single event that triggeredthis movement. It was a process."
In his new role, Zinner assures that he will no longer be directly involved in the company's operations, without any interference in Scherer's management.
"I've built a relationship with Mateus over these three years and I know he's prepared for the role. I've always said you can't have two chefsin the kitchen. There's only one CEO. My role as president will be to help with the big issues," he states.
In the third quarter of 2025, Stone reported adjusted net income of R$ 641.5 million, a 13% increase over the same period of the previous year. Revenue was R$ 3.6 billion, a growth of 16.5%.
Total payment volume (TPV) reached R$ 140.2 billion, an increase of 8.8% compared to the third quarter of 2024. In the micro, small and medium-sized enterprise segment, Stone's main target market, the growth was 10.9%.
On Nasdaq, Stone's shares closed down 0.4% on Tuesday, January 6th. However, over the past 12 months, the shares have risen 84.5%. The company is valued at US$4.1 billion.
