THE WHAT? PayPal is reportedly in talks to sell itself to payments company Stripe and private equity firm Advent International, following a takeover proposal made in July.
THE DETAILS Stripe and Advent proposed paying US$60.50 per share for PayPal in July, valuing the payments group at around US$53 billion. PayPal considered the offer too low, and discussions have since continued around a potentially higher price. The talks remain ongoing and there is no guarantee a transaction will be agreed. The approach comes as PayPal undergoes a turnaround under CEO Enrique Lores, who took over in March and has introduced cost reductions, reorganised the company into three business units and increased its focus on AI. PayPal’s Q2 revenue rose 5% year-on-year to US$8.68 billion, while the company has reported growth across Venmo, Braintree, debit cards and buy-now-pay-later services.
THE WHY? A deal would represent significant consolidation in the global payments sector, bringing together Stripe’s payments infrastructure with PayPal’s large consumer and merchant network. It would also mark a dramatic change in ownership for PayPal, whose valuation has fallen substantially from its pandemic-era peak of more than US$280 billion in 2021.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
