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Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have offered to acquire PayPal for $60.50 per share, valuing the payments company at more than $53 billion.
The proposal carries a 28% premium to PayPal’s closing price before the offer became public. PayPal, Stripe and Advent have declined to comment, and the prospective buyers have not yet received a response.
$50B Financing Backs Equal Stripe-Advent Stakes
The offer is backed by about $50 billion in committed financing from banks. Stripe and Advent would own equal stakes in PayPal and intend to keep the company intact rather than split its consumer, merchant and payments-and-crypto units.
The latest approach follows initial contact in April. Stripe and Advent submitted the proposal earlier in July and are seeking further discussions, though there is no certainty that PayPal will enter negotiations or approve a sale. PayPal shares rose nearly 17% after the offer was reported.
PayPal Would Add 430M Consumer Accounts
The bid comes as chief executive Enrique Lores restructures PayPal after years of slower growth and competition from Apple Pay, Google Pay and other payment services. Stripe mainly provides payment processing and financial infrastructure to businesses.
PayPal would add more than 430 million consumer accounts, its branded online checkout service and Venmo’s peer-to-peer payments network. The companies processed about $3.7 trillion in combined annual payment volume. A combined network could reduce reliance on outside processors.
PYUSD Would Sit Alongside Stripe’s Bridge Unit
A completed transaction would also put PayPal’s PYUSD business alongside Stripe’s Bridge stablecoin infrastructure.
PayPal issues the PYUSD stablecoin and operates crypto services. Stripe owns Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure company it acquired to expand its digital-asset payment capabilities.
The deal has not been agreed, and neither company has announced plans to combine those crypto operations.
Analyst Says Offer Could Rise to $70
PayPal’s market value peaked near $360 billion in 2021 before falling as growth slowed. The company generated $8.35 billion in first-quarter revenue and processed about $464 billion in quarterly payment volume.
Analysts have questioned whether $60.50 per share is enough to secure board and shareholder support. William Blair analyst Andrew Jeffrey said the bidders may be able to raise the proposal to $70 per share if the current figure is an opening offer.
The next signal will be whether PayPal’s board rejects the approach, opens talks or seeks competing bids.
