Stripe and Advent bid to buy PayPal for $53 billion

Stripe and Advent International have put forward a joint offer to buy PayPal Holdings Inc. for $60.50 a share, a bid that would value the payments company at more than $53 billion and place two of fintech’s most prominent players behind one of the industry’s most recognizable brands. The proposal, submitted earlier this month after an initial approach in early April, is backed by about $50 billion in committed bank financing. The two buyers would own PayPal together in equal stakes rather than break the company apart, and there is no certainty a transaction will happen.

The offer lands after a long slide in PayPal’s market standing. The company’s market capitalization peaked at about $360 billion in 2021, then fell to roughly $36 billion this year, while its shares lost more than 40% of their value over the past 12 months. The bid price also represents about a 28% premium to PayPal’s latest closing price, underscoring how far the stock has fallen from its pandemic-era highs and how aggressively buyers are still willing to pay for scale in digital payments.

PayPal has spent the past several years trying to simplify its business and restore growth. On April 29, 2026, it reorganized into three operating units, Checkout Solutions & PayPal, Consumer Financial Services & Venmo, and Payment Services & Crypto, in a move management said was intended to accelerate growth. Its full-year 2025 results, released on February 3, showed the company was still profitable and growing revenue, but management said branded checkout was not performing where it needed to be. PayPal also says its products and services reach consumers and businesses in about 200 markets.

The takeover approach comes as Stripe itself is operating from a position of unusual strength. In February 2026, Stripe disclosed a $159 billion valuation in a tender offer for employees and shareholders, giving the company the balance-sheet and market credibility to consider a deal of this size. A purchase of PayPal would add to a broader wave of consolidation across global payments, where scale, cross-border reach and access to faster-growing transaction flows have become more valuable as independent growth gets harder to sustain. For merchants and consumers, the combination would test whether a larger, more concentrated payments stack can deliver lower friction and broader reach, or whether it would intensify scrutiny from antitrust regulators watching competition in checkout and digital wallets.