Advent and Stripe Abandon $53 Billion PayPal Bid; Shares Fall 16%
Advent and Stripe Abandon $53 Billion PayPal Bid; Shares Fall 16% #
PayPal shares fell as much as 16% in premarket trading on Friday after Bloomberg News reported that a consortium led by private-equity firm Advent International and payments processor Stripe had abandoned its bid to acquire PayPal in a deal that would have been one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history.
People familiar with the matter, cited by Bloomberg, said the group is no longer pursuing a transaction. The consortium had previously submitted a formal offer of $60.50 per share, valuing the company at more than $53 billion, Reuters reported in July. PayPal’s board considered that bid inadequate, with the company also citing regulatory and financing obstacles, and had not issued a formal response. Representatives for PayPal, Stripe, and Advent all declined to comment.
The withdrawal ends a months-long process that began in February, when Bloomberg first reported Stripe’s interest in acquiring parts or all of PayPal. Block, the payments company formerly known as Square, was part of the original consortium that approached PayPal in April but exited before the formal bid was submitted, leaving Stripe and Advent to continue alone.
The deal’s collapse removes a takeover premium that had been built into PayPal’s stock price over the past quarter. Strong second-quarter earnings had already pushed shares more than 40% higher, bringing the company’s market capitalization to around $52.6 billion, according to PYMNTS. With both Stripe and Advent privately held, there is no obvious alternative buyer immediately in sight. Bloomberg noted that the consortium could still return to the table if circumstances change.
The bid had come as PayPal works to regain ground lost to rivals including Apple Pay and Google Pay in recent years. The $53 billion offer was a fraction of the roughly $360 billion valuation the company held at its pandemic-era peak in 2021. PayPal appointed Enrique Lores as chief executive in March after removing Alex Chriss; Lores has pledged clearer financial targets across each business line. Stripe, meanwhile, agreed this month to acquire AI model marketplace OpenRouter for more than $7 billion.
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