Summary
WSJ reported that talks to sell PayPal to Stripe and private equity firm Advent are heating up, with a deal potentially coming together in the coming weeks. Stripe and Advent offered $60.50/share (valuing PayPal at $53 billion) in July, which PayPal initially balked at, but negotiations never stopped. The discussions come as CEO Enrique Lores executes a turnaround plan — restructuring into three operating models, cutting ~20% of the workforce, and "recommit[ing] to the fundamentals" as a technology company.
Key Points
- Stripe + Advent offered $60.50/share; $53B valuation (July WSJ)
- PayPal balked initially; negotiations continued; deal could come "in coming weeks"
- PayPal declined comment; Stripe doesn't comment on rumors
- CEO Enrique Lores joined March (ex-HP); April: exec shuffle + split into 3 operating models (checkout solutions/PayPal, consumer financial services + Venmo, payment services + crypto)
- May: "recommit to the fundamentals," "becoming a technology company again"
- Cost-saving plan: cut workforce ~20% over 2-3 years
- PayPal founded 1998 (Thiel, Musk, Levchin, Nosek); struggled post-pandemic after e-commerce boom
- Would be among the largest fintech M&A deals ever; unites PayPal's scale/Venmo with Stripe's modern commerce stack + Advent capital
- Open questions: regulatory scrutiny, integration complexity, fate of turnaround under new ownership