July 14 - Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have made a joint offer to acquire PayPal Holdings Inc for $60.50 per share, in a deal that would value the payments company at more than $53 billion, two people familiar with the matter said.
The offer, submitted earlier this month, is backed by about $50 billion in committed financing from banks, said one of them. The offer represents around a 28% premium to PayPal's closing share price on Tuesday.
The sources declined to be named as the deal discussions are confidential. PayPal, Stripe and Advent declined to comment.
A Stripe-PayPal merger would create the world's largest merchant acquirer, combining Stripe's roughly $1.9 trillion in annual payment volume with PayPal's nearly $1.8 trillion, for a total of about $3.7 trillion, or roughly 3% of global GDP.
The proposal follows an initial approach made in early April, the sources said. Stripe and Advent have not received a response from PayPal and are seeking to advance discussions in the coming weeks, the sources said.
Under the proposal, Stripe and Advent would jointly own PayPal, with each holding an equal stake, rather than breaking up the company, the people said, adding that there is no certainty the approach will result in a transaction.
PayPal shares were up more than 15% in early trading.
Founded in the late 1990s, PayPal was an early player in digital payments, but has faced competition as consumers have embraced alternative payment methods and rivals such as Apple Pay and Google Pay have gained market share.
It has spent the past several years grappling with slowing growth and intensifying competition in digital payments, wiping out much of the value it gained during the pandemic.
The company's market capitalization peaked at about $360 billion in 2021 and fell to as low as roughly $36 billion this year. It has lost more than 40% of its market value over the past 12 months.
After taking over in March, PayPal CEO Enrique Lores started a sweeping turnaround exercise to simplify the payments provider and sharpen its focus on growth.
In April, the company split its operations into three units covering checkout, consumer financial services Venmo, and payments and crypto, while making a series of management changes.
Despite the valuation premium, William Blair analyst Andrew Jeffrey said, "We do not think PayPal's new CEO will likely embrace what could be viewed as a low-ball offer. If the current offer is an opening salvo, we could see Stripe and Advent go as high at $70 per share."
ROAD TO PAYMENT PROCESSING JUGGERNAUT
The strategic appeal is that Stripe's business has been overwhelmingly focused on merchants, while PayPal adds more than 430 million consumer accounts and direct consumer payment and banking relationships.
PayPal's consumer offerings "could be attractive to materially accelerate" Stripe's efforts to build out its digital wallet offering, TD Cowen analyst Bryan Bergin said.
The deal would give Stripe "direct consumer relationships, with a large user base and the potential for future financial-services distribution, which PayPal has recently increased its efforts on".
Stripe would also gain Venmo's peer-to-peer network and PayPal's consumer-facing checkout button.
GLOBAL PAYMENT DEALS
The potential PayPal transaction, if completed, will add to the recent M&A activity in the global payments sector, where buyers have pursued targets amid rapid changes in financial technology and the rise of artificial intelligence.
Payment companies are also increasingly seeking scale through M&A as well as exposure to faster-growing segments such as cross-border and business-to-business payments amid slower growth for traditional payment processing.
In 2025, Global Payments agreed to acquire rival Worldpay from FIS and private equity firm GTCR for $24.25 billion in a complex three-way deal. As part of that deal, GTCR sold its 55% stake and FIS exited its remaining 45% holding.
The sector has also seen a steady stream of smaller deals, including the acquisition of Payoneer Global by Canadian payments firm Nuvei for $2.75 billion. Nuvei is backed by Advent International and other private equity firms.
Mastercard is exploring the sale of a majority stake in its UK payments subsidiary Vocalink back to British banks as it responds to concerns about a critical asset being under U.S. ownership, the Financial Times reported this week.
PayPal's revenue rose 7% to $8.35 billion in the first quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of $8.05 billion. On a currency-neutral basis, total payment volumes jumped 8% over a year ago to about $464 billion.
Lores outlined plans in May to leverage artificial intelligence to streamline operations across the company and eliminate duplication in workforce layers, but did not provide additional details.
The company has said these initiatives would save about $1.5 billion over the next two to three years, adding it will reinvest that amount to drive new growth.
Privately held Stripe is among the industry's most valuable companies. It was valued at $159 billion in a tender offer for employees and shareholders in February, a more than 70% jump from a similar share sale a year earlier.
The company, founded by brothers John Collison and Patrick Collison in 2010, allows companies to accept payments, make payouts and automate financial processes.
(Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York; Additional reporting by Deborah Sophia and Rashika Singh; Editing by Echo Wang, Sumeet Chatterjee, Lincoln Feast)
