Stripe and Advent Walk Away From $53 Billion Bid to Buy PayPal

A Blockbuster Deal That Never Was

Advent International and Stripe have walked away from their pursuit of PayPal, ending months of speculation over a deal that would have ranked among the largest leveraged buyouts ever — and sending PayPal shares tumbling as much as 16% in premarket trading on Friday. The collapse of the deal is a striking turn of events for a company that, not long ago, was one of the most celebrated names in American finance.

The payments company had received a $60.50-per-share bid from Stripe and private equity firm Advent International, which valued it at more than $53 billion. That offer, however, is a fraction of the roughly $360 billion valuation PayPal commanded as a pandemic-era darling in 2021. The gap between those two numbers tells the whole story of PayPal's dramatic fall from grace.

Why the Deal Fell Apart

PayPal's board saw the takeover bid as inadequate and said it faced regulatory and financing hurdles — and the company never formally responded to the proposal. That cool reception, combined with the enormous complexity of financing a deal of this scale, ultimately proved too much for the consortium to overcome.

Block, Stripe, and Advent had first approached PayPal together in April, but Block exited the consortium before Stripe and Advent submitted their offer. Bloomberg News first revealed in February that Stripe was considering an acquisition of parts or all of PayPal after a stock slump wiped out a chunk of its value. So while the deal's death came swiftly, its origins stretch back nearly a year of behind-the-scenes maneuvering.

PayPal's Struggle to Stay Relevant

Founded in the late 1990s, PayPal was an early mover in digital payments but has since struggled with modernizing its payment technologies as rivals such as Apple and Alphabet have seized market share. The consortium's bid came as PayPal has struggled in recent years to compete with rivals such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, with management trying to revive its flagging share price amid slowing growth.

After taking over in March from Alex Chriss, PayPal CEO Enrique Lores started a sweeping turnaround exercise to simplify the payments provider and sharpen its focus on growth. In April, the company split its operations into three units covering checkout, consumer financial services Venmo, and payments and crypto, while making a series of management changes. Whether those moves can deliver meaningful results — without the pressure of a buyout forcing the issue — remains the central question hanging over the company.

What Comes Next for PayPal

Stripe has been linked to a potential acquisition of PayPal for nearly a year, with buzz increasing this summer before PayPal balked at the offer. Meanwhile, Stripe has not been standing still. Stripe earlier this summer agreed to acquire OpenRouter for about $7.5 billion, a platform for researching and switching between large language models — a deal distinct from its PayPal pursuit, which would have given Stripe considerable scale, particularly among consumers.

For PayPal, the walkaway is both a reprieve and a warning shot. PayPal has not ruled out an acquisition, though it has said it's committed to its growth plan. With the buyout lifeline gone, the pressure now falls squarely on its new leadership to prove the company can chart a credible path forward on its own — and convince investors that the best days of one of fintech's founding names are not already behind it.