Stripe considers acquiring some or all of PayPal: Report

Payment processing firm Stripe is reportedly considering an acquisition of all or parts of its rival PayPal Holdings.

Stripe is in early talks and has expressed preliminary interest in PayPal or parts of its business, though no deal is guaranteed, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Stripe, which enables enterprises to accept payments, make payouts, and automate financial processes, said on Tuesday that it was valued at $159 billion in a tender offer to shareholders and employees, a 74% jump from a year ago.

PayPal has reportedly been struggling to compete with Google Pay and Apple Pay, which are embedded in consumer smartphones.

Stripe president John Collison told Bloomberg that “PayPal has had, obviously, a tough time over the past few years, and the landscape has changed quite a bit with Apple Pay and Google Pay and everything like that.”

“I can’t talk about any, you know, M&A [mergers and acquisitions] hypotheticals, but they’ve definitely had a tough time,” he added.

PayPal stock gains on the day

PayPal is also in leadership transition, with new CEO Enrique Lores set to take over on March 1 following the ouster of Alex Chriss, amid missed earnings estimates and slowing payment volumes.

Related: PayPal draws takeover interest following 46% stock slide: Report

PayPal stock (PYPL) gained 6.74% on Tuesday to end the day trading at $47.02, according to Google Finance. However, shares in the payments platform have declined almost 20% since the beginning of this year and are down 85% from their 2021 all-time high of just over $300.

PayPal shareholders have had a rough ride this year. Source: Google Finance

PayPal, Stripe have serious stablecoin ambitions

PayPal began offering crypto trading in the US in 2020 and launched its own stablecoin PYUSD in 2023. The dollar-pegged asset has gained traction in recent months with its market capitalization topping $4 billion for the first time on Feb. 14.

Stripe has also been dabbling in crypto with its stablecoin platform Bridge, which received conditional approval to operate as a federally chartered national trust bank under the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Feb. 17.

Stripe first offered stablecoin-based accounts globally in May 2025. A merger could see the new entity become a serious player in the stablecoin market.

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