Stripe exploring potential deal to buy PayPal assets: Sources
According to Bloomberg sources, Stripe has initiated preliminary discussions about acquiring PayPal, which faces challenges including fierce rivalry, management upheaval, and shares down 85% from all-time highs.
Digital payments company Stripe is reportedly exploring the possibility of acquiring its competitor PayPal Holdings, either in full or through the purchase of select business units.
According to a Bloomberg report published on Tuesday, Stripe has entered preliminary discussions and indicated initial interest in acquiring PayPal or specific segments of the company, though sources familiar with the situation caution that a transaction is far from certain.
The news arrives as Stripe, which provides businesses with payment acceptance services, payout solutions, and financial process automation, announced on Tuesday that its valuation reached $159 billion through a tender offer made available to shareholders and employees, representing a 74% increase compared to the previous year.
The potential acquisition discussions emerge at a time when PayPal has reportedly faced significant challenges in maintaining competitive ground against rivals such as Google Pay and Apple Pay, both of which benefit from native integration within consumer mobile devices.
In comments to Bloomberg, Stripe president John Collison acknowledged that "PayPal has had, obviously, a tough time over the past few years, and the landscape has changed quite a bit with Apple Pay and Google Pay and everything like that."
"I can't talk about any, you know, M&A [mergers and acquisitions] hypotheticals, but they've definitely had a tough time," he added.
PayPal stock gains on the day
The payments company is simultaneously navigating a leadership change, with incoming CEO Enrique Lores scheduled to assume control on March 1 after the removal of Alex Chriss, following the company's failure to meet earnings projections and experiencing declining payment transaction volumes.
Shares of PayPal stock (PYPL) increased by 6.74% during Tuesday's trading session to close at $47.02, as reported by Google Finance. Despite this uptick, the payment platform's shares have experienced a nearly 20% decrease year-to-date and have plummeted 85% from the company's 2021 peak valuation of slightly above $300.
PayPal, Stripe have serious stablecoin ambitions
The company launched cryptocurrency trading capabilities for US customers in 2020 and subsequently introduced its proprietary stablecoin PYUSD in 2023. The dollar-backed digital asset has experienced increased adoption in recent months, with its total market capitalization surpassing $4 billion for the first time on Feb. 14.
Meanwhile, Stripe has been actively pursuing opportunities in the cryptocurrency space through Bridge, its stablecoin infrastructure platform, which secured conditional approval to function as a federally chartered national trust bank from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Feb. 17.
The company initially launched stablecoin-based account services on a global scale in May 2025. Should a merger materialize, the combined organization could emerge as a dominant force within the stablecoin ecosystem.