Stripe and Advent in talks to buy PayPal in ‘coming weeks’

The logo of online payment company PayPal is pictured during the LeWeb 2013 event in Saint-Denis near Paris on December 10, 2013. — AFP pic

First Published: Saturday, 15 Aug 2026 9:21 AM MYT

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 15 — After rejecting a previous offer, payments giant PayPal is considering a new deal to sell itself to a group of investors that includes private financial company Stripe, according to a Wall Street Journal report Friday.

In July, Stripe and private equity firm Advent International made a joint offer to buy the digital payments pioneer for US$60.50 (RM245) a share, which would have valued PayPal at around US$53 billion, according to media reports.

That’s an 85 per cent haircut compared to PayPal’s peak market value which was near US$360 billion in 2021. The company issued disappointing profit guidance for 2026 earlier this year.

PayPal has struggled to compete with other payments providers including Apple Pay and Google Pay.

The parties have continued negotiating since the previous deal fell through, and a new agreement could materialize “in the coming weeks,” according to the WSJ.

It’s unclear how much a new deal might value PayPal, but the company’s shares jumped after the news and closed up nearly 1.8 per cent.

PayPal declined to comment.

Brothers Patrick and John Collison founded Stripe in 2010 to facilitate online payments for businesses.

Stripe is still a privately held company but is considered a strong contender for an eventual IPO. It’s market value is close to US$185 billion, according to Forge Global, a company that tracks the share prices of private companies.

PayPal was co-founded in 1998 by billionaire investor Peter Thiel, and Elon Musk became an early partner after the company merged with his startup X.com.

The company pioneered allowing people to send each other money via online payments, known as peer-to-peer payments.

Its early executives became known in Silicon Valley as the “PayPal mafia,” a group of alumni who went on to found or lead companies including Tesla, SpaceX, LinkedIn, YouTube and Palantir. — AFP