Stripe and Advent Drop $53B PayPal Buyout Offer — PYUSD Comes Along for the Ride 💸

Payments company Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have jointly offered to acquire PayPal Holdings for more than $53 billion, Reuters reported on July 15, citing sources familiar with the matter. The proposal, which values PayPal at $60.50 per share — a 28% premium to its Tuesday closing price — is backed by approximately $50 billion in committed financing from banks. Under the terms, Stripe and Advent would jointly own PayPal with equal stakes rather than break up the company. Both PayPal and Stripe declined to comment.

This marks Stripe's second approach for PayPal; the payments processor held early acquisition talks with the company earlier this year, according to a February Bloomberg report, as PayPal faced mounting competition from smartphone-based services such as Google Pay and Apple Pay. PayPal shares reacted sharply to the news, climbing 11.3% to $52.73 in Wednesday premarket trading, according to Yahoo Finance. The stock is up 14% over the past month but remains down 35% over the past year.

The proposed deal lands as both companies accelerate their push into stablecoins amid ongoing US legislative developments around the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act. PayPal launched its PYUSD stablecoin in 2023; the token peaked at a $4.2 billion market capitalization in February 2026 before retracing to approximately $2.85 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. PYUSD ranks among the 10 largest stablecoins globally, though it remains dwarfed by market leaders Tether's USDt and Circle's USDC.

Stripe has offered stablecoin-based accounts globally since May 2025 through its stablecoin infrastructure platform Bridge, which received conditional approval on Feb. 17 to operate as a federally chartered national trust bank under the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The company has expanded its stablecoin payments strategy through partnerships with financial institutions and card networks, including a March announcement from Visa to broaden its stablecoin card partnership with Bridge to more than 100 countries across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East by the end of the year.