Stripe has teamed up with private equity firm Advent International to play off one of its oldest competitors, PayPal.
The two made a joint offer of $60.50 per share, a 28% premium to PayPal’s closing stock price of $47.37 on Tuesday, which the company has so far left unanswered.
Why PayPal became a target
PayPal was a pioneer in digital payments, but growth has slowed versus competitors like Apple Pay and Google Pay. Its market capitalization peaked near $360 billion in 2021. That number fell to about $36 billion this year, down 40% over 12 months.
Stripe and Advent made the offer earlier this month, after an initial approach in April, Reuters reported I mentioned. The offer is supported by approximately $50 billion of committed bank financing. Under this proposal, the two buyers would retain equal stakes and keep PayPal intact rather than breaking it up.
The offer lands during a busy period To conclude financial transactions. Global merger activity reached a record level of $2.8 trillion In the first half of 2026 It is expected to grow to $4 trillion this year.
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What the combined company could hold
PayPal has not yet responded. Stripe and Advent still hope to move forward with talks within weeks, sources told Reuters.
The deal will combine two major payment networks under one owner. The tape owns Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure A platform it bought for $1.1 billion in 2025. Bridge allows companies to issue their own dollar-backed tokens instead of operating their own consumer currency.
PayPal brings in the other half. PYUSD stablecoin It already reaches regular usersWith a market value of about $2.9 billion. Pairing Bridge issuance tools with the PYUSD consumer base would give the combined company both ends of the stablecoin spectrum.
It is not certain that this approach will lead to an agreement. The coming weeks may show whether PayPal’s board will participate.
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this post PayPal receives $53 billion takeover bid from Stripe and Advent appeared first on BeInCrypto.
