Stripe and Advent Walk Away From a Massive $53B PayPal Deal

Stripe and Advent International abandoned their approximately $53 billion bid to acquire PayPal, which would have been the largest acquisition in fintech history.

The decision caught the market off guard and hit the company’s stock hard, with shares falling as much as 16% in Friday’s premarket, from the previous close of $61.47 to $52.77.

PayPal’s board rejected the $60.50-per-share offer —a 28% premium over the market price at the time— deeming it insufficient, and refused to send a formal response. Faced with the deadlock, Stripe and Advent decided to walk away. Block had participated as a third partner in April, though it exited the process before the formal offer was submitted.

The deal would have combined services for merchants, consumer wallets such as Venmo, international transfers, and stablecoin products.

Separately, Stripe announced the acquisition of OpenRouter, a marketplace for artificial intelligence models, for more than $8 billion. PayPal, meanwhile, is navigating a structural slowdown and pressure from competitors such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, while its new CEO, Enrique Lores, reorganizes the company into three divisions and cuts nearly 20% of its workforce.

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