PayPal in talks with Stripe and private equity firm over sale: report
In July, Stripe and private equity firm Advent International made a joint offer to buy the digital payments pioneer for $60.50 a share, which would have valued PayPal at around $53 billion, according to media reports. PayPal has struggled to compete with other payments providers including Apple Pay and Google Pay.
PayPal is reportedly in negotiations to sell itself to a consortium of investors, including Stripe and private equity firm Advent International, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The acquisition offer was first made in July, with Stripe and Advent proposing to purchase the payments firm for $60.50 per share, valuing PayPal at approximately $53 billion.
This represents an 85% reduction from PayPal's all-time high market valuation of around $360 billion in 2021. The company recently issued cautious profit forecasts for 2026, and has faced competition from other digital payment providers like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Following the collapse of the previous deal, ongoing negotiations could lead to a new agreement in the coming weeks, according to the WSJ. While the potential new valuation for PayPal is unknown, the news has caused its shares to rise by nearly 1.8%. PayPal declined to provide a comment on the matter.
Stripe, founded in 2010 by brothers Patrick and John Collison, was initially created to provide online payment solutions for businesses. The company has remained privately held, with an estimated market value of approximately $185 billion, according to Forge Global. Stripe remains a strong candidate for a future initial public offering (IPO).
PayPal was established in 1998 by Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, who became an early investor after the company merged with Musk's X.com startup. The early PayPal executives were dubbed the "PayPal mafia," a term given to the group of alumni who went on to establish or lead successful companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Palantir.
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