Billionaire Irish brothers behind Stripe bid $53bn for PayPal at a 28% premium. See what it means for PayPal's stock and Stripe's valuation.
PayPal Holdings, the consumer payments platform once run by Elon Musk and originally launched by Peter Thiel, is the target of a $53 billion takeover bid from Stripe, the private payments giant led by the billionaire Irish brothers John and Patrick Collison. The offer, made jointly with private equity firm Advent International, values PayPal at $60.50 a share, roughly a 28 percent premium to its closing price on Tuesday.
- Stripe and Advent International have offered $60.50 per share for PayPal, backed by $50 billion in bank financing
- PayPal's stock has fallen 19 percent this year and sits 84 percent below its 2021 peak
- Stripe was last valued at $159 billion, up 70 percent over the past year
- PayPal was once valued above $360 billion, more than double Stripe's current worth
- There is no indication yet that PayPal has responded to the approach
How the Billionaire Irish Brothers Built Their Case for PayPal
John and Patrick Collison started Stripe in 2010, when John was still a teenager, after relocating from Ireland to Silicon Valley. Backers over the years have included Musk, Thiel and Sequoia Capital, and the company has raised tens of billions of dollars while avoiding public markets altogether. Forbes now pegs each brother's fortune at roughly $17.5 billion.
Stripe says it processed $1.9 trillion in payments during 2025, a 34 percent jump from a year earlier. A recent employee share sale, according to the reporting, gives the company more room to stay private rather than rush toward an IPO. Buying PayPal would hand Stripe something it currently lacks: a recognizable consumer app to sit alongside its business focused payment infrastructure.
PayPal's Valuation, Momentum and the Numbers Behind the Bid
PayPal's shares have had a rough stretch. The stock is down 19 percent so far this year and has lost 84 percent of its value since peaking in 2021. That decline has come alongside intensifying competition from Stripe itself, Apple Pay and Klarna, plus a broader tech sell off tied to worries about how artificial intelligence might reshape payment habits. John Collison has floated the idea that consumers may eventually let AI agents handle purchases on their behalf, and argued a trusted name like PayPal could hold an edge in that scenario.
The bull case rests on that brand recognition and PayPal's still sizable base of consumer users, something Stripe cannot easily replicate on its own. Enrique Lores, who took over as chief executive after Alex Chriss was pushed out for moving too slowly, has been pressing a turnaround. The bear case is simpler: a company once worth more than $360 billion is now being approached at a fraction of that figure, and a nearly 20 percent premium may not be enough to draw PayPal's board to the table, especially with no engagement reported so far.
What Happens Next for PayPal and Stripe
PayPal, Advent International and Stripe have all either declined to comment or not responded to requests. Whether PayPal's board views $60.50 a share as fair, given how far its stock has fallen from prior highs, remains the open question. For now, the Collison brothers' bid sits unanswered, and the payments industry is watching to see if two rivals of very different sizes might soon become one.
