Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have teamed up to make an offer for PayPal valued at more than $53 billion, according to Reuters. The deal would see the privately held payments startup – once seen as PayPal’s disruptor – become its owner.
If completed, the acquisition would be among the largest tech M&A deals in recent history. Stripe, founded by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison, has long been the dominant player in online payment processing for developers and startups. PayPal, meanwhile, has struggled with slowing growth and increased competition.
Crunchbase News notes that Stripe’s acquisition pace has accelerated significantly over the past five years, but nothing compares to the scale of this reported PayPal bid.
