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July 15, 2026
Max Levchin: PayPal (PYPL) shares jumped Wednesday following reports that payments rival Stripe and private equity firm Advent International made a joint bid to acquire the company. The offer reportedly values PayPal at more than $53 billion.
The reported interest underscores PayPal's lasting value. Its massive user base, established brand, and payments infrastructure remain attractive assets. This comes despite years of slowing growth and rising competition from rivals including Stripe, Revolut, Klarna (KLAR), and Affirm (AFRM).
Affirm co-founder and CEO Max Levchin addressed PayPal's competitive struggles during a recent appearance on the "Power Players with Brian Sozzi" podcast. He was asked whether Affirm might consider acquiring Venmo from a weakened PayPal to accelerate its own growth.
Levchin, who helped launch PayPal alongside Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and other prominent tech figures, said Affirm regularly evaluates acquisition opportunities. He noted that Affirm's size as a public company means mergers and acquisitions should always be on the table.
He explained that Affirm has actively explored deals but has struggled to justify the cost. According to Levchin, the company's organic growth rate makes it difficult to defend the dilution or cash expense that acquisitions typically require. He added that most M&A deals carry a low probability of success.
Levchin said the threshold for pursuing a deal that would dilute shareholders remains extremely high for Affirm.
For Stripe, acquiring PayPal would immediately expand its footprint beyond merchant payment processing. The deal would bring one of the world's largest consumer payment platforms into its portfolio, including the popular peer-to-peer app Venmo.
Stripe, which remains privately held, currently carries a valuation of $180 billion. That places it as the third most valuable private company globally, trailing only OpenAI and Anthropic.
The reported offer price of $60.50 per share marks a significant premium over PayPal's recent trading value. Still, it falls far short of the company's all-time high near $300 per share, reached in 2021. A PayPal spokesperson had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
News of the potential offer arrives as new PayPal CEO Enrique Lores works to cut costs, restructure leadership, and reignite the company's growth trajectory.
Given the competitive pressures PayPal has faced in recent years, analysts suggest Stripe should proceed cautiously and avoid overpaying for a company some now view as a legacy player in the payments space.
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