A month of takeover speculation that had lifted PayPal’s stock by more than 40% came to an abrupt end on August 28, wiping out much of those gains in a single trading session. What changed, and what it means for one of fintech’s best-known names, is only now becoming clear.
The shares of PayPal Holdings, one of the world’s largest online payment platforms, closed down 12.7% at $53.66 on Friday, August 28, after Bloomberg reported that payments company Stripe and private equity firm Advent International had walked away from a joint offer to buy PayPal.
The two firms had earlier proposed paying $60.50 per share in July, valuing PayPal at roughly $53 billion. PayPal’s board reportedly viewed that price as too low and did not send a formal response, betting the buyers would come back with more. Instead, Stripe, a private technology company that builds the behind-the-scenes payment infrastructure, and Advent, one of the world’s larger private equity firms, stepped back from the negotiations entirely.
A deal of this size, sometimes called a leveraged buyout, would have ranked among the largest of its kind on record. Therefore, its cancellation removes, at least for now, one of the main opportunities that had been driving investor optimism around PayPal all summer, and it leaves the company to prove on its own that it can turn its business around.
PayPal’s stock had surged on hopes that a sale, at a premium to its market price, would deliver quick value to shareholders after years of underperformance. PayPal shares are still down more than 80% from their pandemic-era peak in 2021, when the company was valued at roughly $360 billion. At the same time, PayPal’s Q2 2026 financial results have showed a promising direction, outperforming industry forecasts. Since the buyout deal collapsed, at least two Wall Street firms, Mizuho Securities and Loop Capital, have cut their price targets on PayPal stock, though both kept neutral or hold ratings rather than turning negative.
PayPal’s leadership has not commented directly on the collapsed talks. On the company’s most recent earnings call, chief executive Enrique Lores said PayPal would weigh any option that could create value for shareholders, without confirming or denying acquisition interest. Reuters and Bloomberg reporting both note that a renewed offer from Advent and Stripe remains possible if the two sides later find common ground on price.
