Full story
Stripe, Advent bid for PayPal
Payments company Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have jointly offered to acquire PayPal for $60.50 per share, valuing the deal at more than $53 billion, according to Reuters as cited by CTech.
“Skip to content Investing PayPal Soars 19% on a Reported $53B Stripe-Advent Takeover Offer: What It Means for Visa, Mastercard, and American Express”
The offer is backed by approximately $50 billion in committed bank financing, and the sources said PayPal has not yet responded to the proposal.
Under the proposal, Stripe and Advent would jointly own PayPal with each holding a 50% stake rather than breaking up the business, and the sources cautioned there is no guarantee the approach will lead to a transaction.
CoinDesk reported that PayPal has more than 400 million active consumer accounts and owns mobile payment service Venmo, while Stripe has been expanding stablecoin infrastructure through the acquisition of Bridge for $1.1 billion in 2024 and the introduction of its own blockchain network Tempo last year.
CoinDesk also said the digital dollar project involves Coinbase, Mastercard, Visa, and BlackRock, and is built to rival Circle’s USDC as the stablecoin of choice for financial institutions and businesses.
Stablecoins, wallets, and infrastructure
CoinDesk framed the strategic logic as stablecoins and blockchain, saying the acquisition would unite merchant acceptance and consumer reach and potentially send mainstream stablecoin acceptance into another stratosphere.
CoinDesk quoted Torab Torabi, CEO of stablecoin infrastructure firm Movement Labs, saying, "The name on the front of the wallet means far less than whose infrastructure clears the payment behind it."
In a research note, Citi said the incremental addition of PYUSD would produce "the first fully vertically integrated private digital dollar stack in the market," encompassing issuance and reserve management, settlement and movement rails, and enterprise merchant processing.
CoinDesk also reported that Move’s Torabi argued, "It isn't PYUSD. It's the distribution PayPal has," adding that a regulated dollar already reaching tens of millions of people across dozens of countries is what buyers would be paying for.
The CoinDesk piece further said Louisa Bai, head of stablecoins at Mysten Labs, argued that if Stripe owns PayPal, Bridge becomes the shared infrastructure layer under PYUSD, OpenUSD and Tempo, describing it as "infrastructure consolidation, not token competition."
Deal stakes and market reaction
The Motley Fool reported that PayPal stock rose over 17% on July 15 after the Reuters report of the $53.4 billion deal valued at $60.50 per share, and it said Reuters reported that Stripe and Advent would jointly own PayPal under the proposed deal.
“Payments giant Stripe has jointly made a $53 billion offer to acquire PayPal amid growing consolidation in the stablecoin sector”
The Motley Fool also said the offer reportedly includes about $50 billion in committed bank financing, and it noted that as of its writing PayPal’s board of directors had yet to respond to the offer.
24/7 Wall St said PayPal stock was up 19% to $56.60 in early Wednesday trading following the reported joint takeover offer from Stripe and Advent International valued at more than $53 billion or $60.50 per share.
24/7 Wall St reported that the bid carries a 28% premium to Tuesday’s close and that Reuters indicated an earlier approach in April went unanswered, with the buyers now pushing for an agreement by month-end.
CoinDesk warned that any deal would face significant antitrust scrutiny while raising new questions under the emerging U.S. stablecoin regulatory framework, and it said the strategic debate centers on whether PYUSD or OpenUSD would emerge as dominant tokens or whether infrastructure consolidation is the bigger deal.
