Stripe and Advent International Bid $53 Billion for PayPal

Stripe, Inc. and private equity firm Advent International have submitted a joint bid to acquire PayPal Holdings Inc. for $60.50 per share, valuing the company at more than $53 billion. The offer, which represents a premium of approximately 28% over PayPal's July 14 closing price, is supported by $50 billion in committed bank financing from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. The proposed deal would consist of $17 billion in stock and $36 billion in cash, with Stripe and Advent maintaining equal stakes in a single business entity.

PayPal's board is scheduled to discuss the proposal at a meeting on July 20. While the news triggered PayPal's largest intraday stock gain on record, with shares surging as much as 17%, the board currently views the offer as inadequate. Leadership argues the bid undervalues the company and ignores the potential of a turnaround strategy led by CEO Enrique Lores, which includes $1.5 billion in cost cuts and a plan to reduce the workforce by 20% over three years.

To mitigate antitrust concerns, the bidders have considered separating PayPal's Braintree business for transfer to Advent. The acquisition would merge Stripe's $1.9 trillion annual payment volume with PayPal's $1.8 trillion and grant Stripe access to 400 million active consumer accounts. In response to the bid, PayPal has engaged Goldman Sachs and Evercore to evaluate strategic alternatives, including a potential sale or breakup. An initial approach in April reportedly included Block Inc., though Block subsequently exited the consortium.