Stripe, Advent Push Higher Bid for PayPal
Stripe, Advent Push Higher Bid for PayPal
The News
Stripe and private equity firm Advent International are in renewed talks to buy PayPal and could announce a deal in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.
The two bidders offered $60.50 a share for PayPal in July — a price that valued the company at $53 billion — and PayPal turned it down. The Journal reports the sides are now discussing a higher price per share.
This is reported talks, not a deal. Nothing has been signed, the talks could still collapse, and neither buyer has confirmed anything. PayPal declined to comment on the report. A Stripe spokesman said the company does not "comment on rumors or speculation."
Timeline
PayPal names Enrique Lores, previously of HP, as its new chief executive.
Lores announces his turnaround plan: an executive shuffle and a split of the business into three operating units — checkout and PayPal; consumer financial services and Venmo; and payment services and crypto.
Lores tells investors PayPal will recommit to "the fundamentals," including "becoming a technology company again." Bloomberg reports the cost-cutting plan is expected to shrink the workforce by 20% over the next two to three years.
Stripe and Advent offer $60.50 a share, valuing PayPal at $53 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. Reuters reports the two would take equal stakes and become PayPal's joint owners, with no plans to break the company up. PayPal balks.
The Journal reports the negotiations never stopped and are heating up, with a higher per-share price under discussion.
Reactions
PayPal declined to comment on the Journal's report. Stripe's spokesman said only that the company doesn't comment on rumors or speculation. Advent has not commented publicly in the reporting.
The tech press framed the talks as a rescue as much as a takeover. TechCrunch noted that Lores' turnaround plan for PayPal "could include a sale — of itself," and that the negotiations are happening while he tries to pull the company off a lagging trajectory. Engadget reported that PayPal's stock was trading at historic lows before the July proposal, worth roughly $40 billion at the time — about $320 billion below its peak market value during the height of the COVID pandemic.
What's Next
A deal could be announced within weeks if the price gap closes, according to the Journal — or the talks could fall apart, as the same reporting allows. Any agreement would then face the usual antitrust review of a combination between two of the largest names in online payments.
Watch for a confirmed price per share above $60.50, and for what happens to the three-unit structure Lores built in April. It is unclear how that reorganization would survive an acquisition.
More
Reuters reported in July that a Stripe-PayPal merger would create one of the largest online payment companies in the world, processing around $3.7 trillion in payments a year, and could cut Stripe's reliance on Visa and Mastercard. It would also hand Stripe Venmo, PayPal's checkout system and its crypto features.
PayPal was founded in 1998 by a group that included Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Max Levchin and Luke Nosek. The company ballooned during the pandemic e-commerce boom and has struggled since.
Colleges Condemn Students Mocking Kirk Assassination Anniversary
Charleston White Arrested Again on Florida Battery Charge
Sep 13, 2026
Border Patrol Rescues MS NOW Crew in Desert
Sep 13, 2026
Supreme Court Restores Missouri's Old House Map
Sep 13, 2026
Alaska Drops Felony Voter Charges Against Samoans
Sep 13, 2026
Trespasser Breaches Harris' Malibu Estate; No Arrest
Sep 12, 2026
Hegseth Pressed Downed Airmen Into 60 Minutes
Sep 12, 2026
Houthis Seize Mokha, Choking Saudi Oil Exports
Sep 12, 2026
Altman Rules Out OpenAI IPO This Year
Sep 12, 2026
Jury Acquits Lil Durk in Murder-for-Hire Case
Sep 12, 2026
Judge: Trump Broke Law Halving FEMA Staff
Sep 12, 2026
Maher Calls Democrats' Gaza Genocide Claim a Lie
Sep 12, 2026
Blizzard Revives StarCraft, Sends Diablo to Netflix
Sep 12, 2026
Trump's Queens Childhood Home Sells for $1.93M
Sep 12, 2026
Scientists Find New Virus in Tick Invading US
Sep 12, 2026
Britain Bans Settlement Imports; US States Threaten Payback
Sep 12, 2026
Prison Fire Kills 7 as Kurds Protest Killing
Sep 12, 2026
Kosovo Rallies for Ex-President Before Hague Verdict
Sep 12, 2026
Cruz Booed at GameDay Over College Sports Bill
Sep 12, 2026
Blast Hits Bulgarian Arms Plant Supplying Ukraine
Sep 12, 2026
Sep 13, 2026