PayPal is in early talks to be acquired by a group that includes payments giant Stripe and private-equity firm Advent International, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Stripe and Advent first put an offer on the table in July, proposing $60.50 per share. PayPal pushed back, calling the price too low. The two sides have since been in discussions over a higher number.
A deal could take shape in the coming weeks, though no agreement is guaranteed.
PYPL stock rose 1.8% on Friday after the report broke, closing with a market cap of close to $53 billion. The initial $60.50 offer had valued the company at around $53 billion.
Before the July offer, PayPal stock had been trading near historic lows, giving it a market cap of just around $40 billion. That is a steep fall from its 2021 peak of over $300 per share and a market value of more than $280 billion.
At least one analyst at William Blair called the $60.50 bid a “lowball offer” and questioned whether the deal made strategic sense.
PayPal has been under pressure as its core branded checkout business lost ground to Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shopify, and buy-now-pay-later services like Affirm.
The stock has dropped roughly 80% from its pandemic-era highs. Repeated guidance cuts, missed forecasts, and shrinking margins drove the decline.
CEO Enrique Lores took the top job in March 2026, replacing Alex Chriss after PayPal issued a profit warning. The board had grown frustrated with the slow pace of a turnaround.
Lores, formerly CEO of HP, restructured PayPal into three business lines and said the company would push harder on artificial intelligence adoption.
In its most recent earnings report, PayPal pointed to growth in Venmo, Braintree, its debit card, and its buy now, pay later products as reasons for optimism.
Lores said at the time that PayPal is focused on its turnaround but would “evaluate all opportunities to maximize shareholder value.”
Stripe is a private payments processor founded by brothers Patrick and John Collison. Its valuation hit $159 billion earlier this year, with Sequoia Capital among its backers.
Advent International is a Boston-based private-equity firm managing more than $90 billion, with a focus on financial services, technology, healthcare, and consumer sectors.
PayPal has attracted takeover interest from multiple large tech and private-equity players over the past year due to its large user base and checkout data. None of those previous talks resulted in a deal.
Wall Street currently rates PYPL a Hold, based on four Buys, 21 Holds, and two Sells over the last three months. The average price target of $58.36 implies roughly 5% downside from current levels.
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