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Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have submitted a joint offer to acquire PayPal for $60.50 per share in a deal that would value the struggling payments giant at more than $53 billion, sources familiar with the matter confirmed Wednesday. PayPal shares surged as much as 17% on the news.
The offer, submitted earlier this month, is backed by roughly $50 billion in committed bank financing, with Stripe, Advent and Block contributing approximately $17 billion in equity. Under the proposal, Stripe and Advent would jointly own PayPal and hold equal stakes in the combined business rather than pursuing a breakup of the company. PayPal's board is expected to meet as soon as July 20 to consider the bid. PayPal has not yet responded to the approach, and all three companies declined to comment.
A deal of this scale would unite two of the internet's most dominant payment platforms. Together, Stripe and PayPal process roughly $3.7 trillion in annual payment volume, and the combination would give Stripe immediate access to PayPal's more than 430 million consumer accounts — a significant expansion beyond Stripe's traditionally merchant-focused business. Analysts noted the acquisition would also hand Stripe control of Venmo's peer-to-peer network and could reduce the combined entity's reliance on card networks like Visa and Mastercard, potentially improving margins on each transaction.
The bid arrives at a turbulent moment for PayPal. The company's market capitalization peaked at around $360 billion in 2021 before collapsing to roughly $36 billion earlier this year, weighed down by slowing growth and intensifying competition from rivals including Apple Pay and Google Pay. PayPal replaced its CEO earlier this year, bringing in HP's Enrique Lores to lead a restructuring effort that has divided its operations into three units and promised $1.5 billion in cost savings over the next two to three years.
Despite the premium on offer, some analysts believe Lores is unlikely to view the current bid as sufficient. William Blair's Andrew Jeffrey suggested the opening offer could climb as high as $70 per share before any deal is finalized.
