Business
February 25, 2026
The Stripe PayPal acquisition story broke on February 24, 2026, when Bloomberg reported that Stripe has expressed preliminary interest in buying all or parts of PayPal. PayPal stock surged 6.7% to $47.02 on the news, giving it a market cap of around $43.3 billion. On the same day, Stripe confirmed a $159 billion valuation through an employee tender offer, making it one of the most valuable private companies in payments.
The Stripe PayPal acquisition talks, if they lead anywhere, could also reshape stablecoin payments infrastructure at a global scale, given that both companies have been building out digital asset and PYUSD capabilities.
Also Read: Treasury Repurchases $2B in Long-Term Bonds Amid Routine Buyback Program
How a Stripe–PayPal Deal Could Reshape Stablecoin Payments Infrastructure
PayPal’s Decline and Stripe’s Opening
PayPal, founded in the late 1990s, has been losing ground to Apple Pay and Google Pay for years. Its fourth-quarter results missed analyst estimates on both profit and revenue, and payment volume continued to slow. CEO Alex Chriss was ousted this month, with Enrique Lores taking over on March 1.
Stripe president Patrick Collison had this to say:
“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 hypotheticals but they’ve definitely had a tough time.”
The Stripe PayPal Acquisition and Stablecoin Infrastructure
Stripe has been expanding its stablecoin payments rails aggressively, including through its acquisition of Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure company now pursuing a national bank and trust charter. PayPal, on its side, launched PYUSD and has been building out its own digital asset capabilities.
A combined stablecoin payments network from these two companies could unify what is right now a pretty fragmented on-ramp and settlement layer for crypto. PYUSD could also find a much larger distribution channel through Stripe’s merchant network.
Also Read: Wells Fargo Upgrades Google Stock, Citing an AI Edge Wall Street Is Missing
No Deal Confirmed Yet
The deliberations are described as early, and there is no certainty they will lead to a transaction. Representatives for both Stripe and PayPal declined to comment. The outcome of the Stripe PayPal acquisition talks will also depend heavily on how PayPal’s leadership transition plays out under Lores.
