Talks to sell PayPal to Stripe and Advent are heating up

PayPal CEO Enrique Lores’ turnaround plan for the struggling fintech company could include a sale — of itself. The prospect first surfaced in July, when Stripe and private equity giant Advent offered to buy PayPal for $60.50 a share, valuing it at $53 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time. PayPal balked, but negotiations reportedly never stopped, and a deal could come together in the coming weeks, according to new WSJ reporting citing unnamed sources. PayPal declined to comment on the report; a Stripe spokesperson said the company does not comment on rumors or speculation.

The renewed talks come as Lores tries to reverse PayPal’s lagging trajectory. He joined the company in March after years at HP, and in April made his first moves — an executive shuffle and a split of the business into three units: checkout and PayPal, consumer financial services (including Venmo), and payment services and crypto. A month later, Lores told investors PayPal would “recommit to the fundamentals,” which included “becoming a technology company again.” The turnaround also includes a cost-cutting plan expected to shrink the workforce by 20% over the next two to three years.

PayPal was founded in 1998 by a group of men who went on to become Silicon Valley luminaries, including Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Max Levchin, and Luke Nosek. The company has struggled in recent years after ballooning during the pandemic-era e-commerce boom.

Why it matters

A deal would be one of the largest fintech acquisitions ever and would hand Stripe, itself a payments giant, control of one of the internet’s original payment brands — right as PayPal tries to prove it can turn itself around on its own.