Stripe and Advent bid $60.50 per share for PayPal, valuing it at $53 billion

The joint bid

Stripe, the payments firm founded by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison, and private-equity giant Advent International made a joint takeover offer for PayPal at $60.50 per share, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The offer, submitted earlier in July, values the digital-payments pioneer at more than $53 billion, or about 46.4 billion euros, and carries a roughly 28 percent premium over PayPal's closing price on Tuesday. Around $50 billion in committed bank financing supports the bid. PayPal, Stripe and Advent all declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

PayPal's reaction and timing

The approach follows an initial overture made in early April. Despite the size of the proposal, PayPal has not yet responded to the joint offer, the people said, and they cautioned that there is no guarantee a transaction will materialize. Separately, a source cited by the Financial Times and Reuters said a deal at the proposed valuation appeared unlikely because the recently installed chief executive, Enrique Lores, is focused on an internal turnaround. Stripe and Advent are hoping to secure an agreement before the end of July.

Stock market moves

PayPal shares jumped as much as 20 percent in pre-market trading on Wednesday, putting the stock on course for its best one-day performance on record. By mid-afternoon in Europe, the gain had settled to around 14 percent, with the shares trading above $56. The surge still leaves the stock far below its all-time high of more than $300 reached in 2021. Since then, the shares have dropped roughly 85 percent, including a nearly 20 percent decline so far this year. Market capitalization, which once touched approximately $360 billion, fell to a low of around $36 billion in 2026.

PayPal's restructuring under Lores

Enrique Lores assumed the CEO role in March and immediately launched a sweeping restructuring. The company split its business into three divisions: one handling the core payment checkout, another overseeing consumer financial services such as Venmo, and a third focused on payments and cryptocurrencies. Lores is seeking to reverse years of slowing growth and intensifying competition from rivals like Apple Pay and Google Pay, which have steadily eroded PayPal's market share.

Ownership structure and outlook

Stripe and Advent propose to hold equal stakes in the combined entity rather than breaking PayPal apart. The offer arrives after PayPal fielded unsolicited buyout interest in February for parts or all of the business. For now, the absence of a formal response leaves the outcome uncertain, though people close to the matter expect negotiations to intensify as the end-of-month self-imposed deadline nears.