The Irish fintech and the private equity giant tabled a 60,50 US Dollars per share bid that would finance with debt facilities in the region of 50 billion US Dollars.
Ireland’s Stripe, a global provider of digital payment infrastructures, and private equity Advent International tabled a 53 billion US Dollars or 60.50 US Dollars per share worth bid for acquiring Nasdaq-listed PayPal. The firms received financing facilities of 50 billion US Dollars from a pool of banks that JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley lead. However, Paypal board of directors reckons that such an offer is inadequate as it underestimates the company’s long-term value and the regulatory and financial complexities of the transaction, Reuters reported on 17 July, Friday, following up the breaking news story that quoted sources close to the deal. Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and other international news providers picked up the story, but PayPal, Advent and Stripe did not release any comment, nor they filed any document with the SEC.
Any bid from Stripe and Advent would need to win over Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street, the major institutional investors currently holding shares in the PayPal whose shares surged by 17% on 15 July, Wednesday, following the first rumours of the Stripe and Advent bid. At the closure of trading of 17 July, Friday, PayPal shares price was of 58.08 US Dollars, around 4% below the 60.50 US Dollars offer price.
PayPal Holdings listed on 20 July 2015 after a spin-off from eBay whose shareholders received a stake in the fintech that started trading on Nasdaq at 38 US Dollars per share with an initial market capitalization in the region of 47 billion US Dollars (press release).
Stripe and Advent aim to be even owners of PayPal and may also sell Braintree to avoid antitrust issues.
PayPal has a leading position in the e-payments sector with more than 400 million of active accounts. However, after it reached a market capitalisation of over 360 billion US dollars in 2021 during the post-pandemic e-commerce boom, the share price lost much of its value due to slowing growth and increasing competition from Apple Pay, Google Pay and other fintech operators. The offer from Stripe and Advent would pay a premium of around 28% on the share price prior to the emergence of the rumours, causing PayPal’s share price to jump by 16% per cent in the trading session following the news.
Such a merger would mark a historic milestone for the digital payments sector as it would create one of the world’s largest fintech players, combining Stripe’s leadership in the merchant acquiring segment with PayPal’s user base and consumer services.
From a private equity perspective, the deal would be one of the largest ever in the fintech sector. Advent would provide the venture capital and expertise in buyout transactions, whilst Stripe would contribute its business operations and the ability to integrate PayPal’s platform.
Irish entrepreneurs Patrick Collison and John Collison founded Stripe in 2010. The firm became one of the world’s most valuable private fintech companies thanks to the backing of investors alike Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Tiger Global.
Stripe attracted above 9 billion US Dollars since its birth and hit a peak value of 95 billion US Dollars in 2021. However, in 2023, rising interest rates shrunk Stripe enterprise value to 50 billion for a 6.5 billion US Dollars round. The company invested such proceeds in providing its workers with cash and paying tax liabilities relating to share options. After it became structurally profitable again, the company subsequently avoided further capital increases and instead opted to enable employees and early investors to cash in their shares through tender offers. The strong growth in revenue and payment volumes boosted Stripe valuation to 65 billion US dollars in 2024, 91.5 billion in 2025 and 159 billion US Dollars in February 2026.
