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Payments company Stripe and private equity group Advent International have launched a joint offer to acquire New York-listed payments group PayPal in a deal that would value the business at around $53bn, according to the Financial Times.
The FT, citing two people familiar with the matter, reported that Stripe made an offer of $60.50 a share earlier this month. The bid represents a premium of roughly 28 per cent to PayPal's closing price on Tuesday and is backed by about $50bn in committed bank financing. The approach was first reported by Reuters.
According to the FT, PayPal has so far shown little appetite to engage with either suitor, and the people cautioned that a deal was unlikely to complete at the proposed valuation. The $60.50 level also sits well below where PayPal traded a year ago, when its shares changed hands in the $70 range.
PayPal's stock has fallen around 19 per cent this year and is down 84 per cent from its 2021 peak, the FT noted, as growth has slowed and competition has intensified. Rivals including Apple Pay, Shop Pay and Klarna have pushed aggressively into the space that PayPal once dominated.
Enrique Lores, PayPal CEO
Recently appointed Chief Executive Enrique Lores is pursuing a turnaround, which the people familiar with the approach cited as a reason the board has been reluctant to open talks. Lores has previously set out plans to use artificial intelligence to strip out duplication across the group and target roughly $1.5bn in savings over the next two to three years, to be reinvested in growth.
For Stripe, led by brothers Patrick and John Collison, a deal of this scale would be transformative. The company was valued at $159bn in a February tender offer, a jump of more than 70 per cent on a similar share sale a year earlier, and has long been tipped as a potential IPO candidate, although John Collison has said the group is in no rush to list.
Absorbing PayPal would hand Stripe a consumer-facing checkout brand with more than 400mn users, complementing its merchant-first infrastructure. The FT reported that Stripe and Advent intend to jointly own PayPal rather than break it up, with each holding an equal stake.
The stablecoin dimension is also drawing attention. Stripe owns Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure platform it acquired in 2025, while PayPal brings its consumer-facing PYUSD token. Pairing issuance tooling with an established consumer base would give the combined group exposure across both ends of the stablecoin stack.
Advent brings a deep track record in the sector, having previously backed payments businesses including Worldpay, Vantiv and Nexi. The potential transaction adds to a busy run of consolidation across global payments, following deals such as Global Payments' agreement to acquire Worldpay in 2025.
PayPal and Advent declined to comment. Stripe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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