Advent International and Stripe have reportedly abandoned their bid to acquire PayPal, according to a Bloomberg report citing sources.
According to the announcement, PayPal and Stripe declined to comment on the matter, while Advent International could not be immediately reached for comment outside regular business hours.
The consortium had reportedly offered USD 60.50 per share for PayPal, valuing the company at more than USD 53 billion. The offer represented a fraction of PayPal's valuation of approximately USD 360 billion in 2021, when the company was regarded as a pandemic-era growth stock.
Furthermore, PayPal's board reportedly viewed the bid as inadequate and pointed to potential regulatory and financing hurdles, according to earlier Reuters reporting. PayPal has not issued a formal response to the proposal.
In August 2026, Wall Street Journal reported that PayPal's chief executive was in the early stages of a turnaround plan that has already included cost reductions. During the company's most recent earnings report, released late last month, a company official said PayPal remained focused on its turnaround strategy while stating it would evaluate opportunities to maximise shareholder value.
The profit warning that preceded the leadership change was attributed to slowing growth in PayPal's branded-checkout product, which enables customers to pay with PayPal at online checkout, as well as internal execution issues. Since then, PayPal has restructured its operations into three business lines and said it would accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence across the organisation. In its latest earnings report, the company highlighted growth in P2P payments platform Venmo, payments processor Braintree, its debit card offering, and its buy now, pay later business.
Competitive pressure on PayPal
PayPal, founded in the late 1990s, has faced growing competition in recent years from mobile wallet providers such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. The company's management has been working to address a declining share price amid slowing revenue growth.
The reported bid had brought together Stripe, a privately held payment processor, and Advent International, a buyout firm, in a proposal to take PayPal private. Such a deal, had it proceeded, would have combined a major payments infrastructure provider with a private equity investor in one of the more closely watched potential transactions in the payments sector this year.
