PayPal Discussing Sale to Stripe After Rejecting First Offer

PayPal Holdings is in talks with a group that includes Stripe and Advent International, negotiating to sell itself at a price potentially higher than the one the companies offered in July, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Friday (Aug. 14), citing unnamed sources.

The two sides have been negotiating since July, when Stripe and Advent proposed buying PayPal at a price that the company later said was insufficient, according to the report.

A deal could come together within weeks, although there is no guarantee the parties will reach an agreement, the report said.

Reached by PYMNTS, a PayPal spokesperson declined to comment on the report, and a Stripe spokesperson said Stripe does not comment on rumors or speculation.

Advent did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

According to the WSJ report, the July proposal valued PayPal at $53 billion at a time when the company’s shares had been trading at a level that gave it a market value of about $40 billion.

Following the WSJ’s report on the companies’ talks, PayPal shares rose 1.8%, giving the company a market value of close to $53 billion, according to an updated report.

When PayPal announced in January that it ousted CEO Alex Chriss and named HP’s Enrique Lores as his replacement starting in March, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster wrote in a post on LinkedIn that the move was not a surprise because PayPal’s market cap remained where it was a decade earlier when the company split from eBay.

“The big question now is why Lores and why now,” Webster wrote. “A look at his resume might hold some clues. He led the separation of HP into two business units in 2014. Could that be PayPal’s next move?”

Rumors of Stripe’s interest in PayPal emerged on Feb. 24, initially reported by the likes of Bloomberg, PYMNTS reported at the time.

It was reported July 15 that Stripe and Advent submitted the joint offer for PayPal that valued the company at $53 billion.

A day later, on July 16, it was reported that PayPal’s board believed the takeover offer undervalued the company. The report said the development could open negotiations over price, deal structure and regulatory risk.