A company that's watched $320 billion evaporate from its market cap since the COVID peak, with its stock sitting at record lows, gets handed a buyout offer that instantly bumps its valuation up by 30% — and still shakes its head "no." That's exactly where PayPal finds itself right now.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Stripe and private equity firm Advent International offered PayPal $60.50 per share this past July, putting the overall valuation at $53 billion. Before that offer, PayPal's market cap had dropped to around $40 billion at one point — a staggering $320 billion below its pandemic-era peak. Even so, PayPal's board decided the price still wasn't good enough and passed.
But the talks didn't end there. The two sides are reportedly now discussing a higher per-share price, and if things go smoothly, a formal agreement could be announced within the next few weeks — though the whole thing could still fall apart at any moment. Reuters previously reported that if the acquisition goes through, Stripe and Advent would each hold a 50% stake in PayPal, with no plans to break up its business. In other words, Stripe would instantly become one of the biggest online payment giants in the world, handling an estimated $3.7 trillion in annual transaction volume.
The timing here is pretty interesting too. PayPal just brought in new CEO Enrique Lores this past March, and after taking over, he restructured the company into three business units: Checkout, Venmo, and Payments & Crypto. If the acquisition goes through, it's still unclear how this freshly reorganized structure would fit into Stripe's setup. Reuters analysis suggests that if the merger happens, Stripe would be able to fold Venmo, PayPal's checkout system, and its crypto features into its own product lineup, while also reducing its reliance on Visa and MasterCard.
Neither side has confirmed the details of the agreement or the final price tag yet, so whether this deal actually comes together remains to be seen.
