Stripe is reportedly weighing an acquisition of all or parts of PayPal, a potential deal that would unite two payments giants with converging stablecoin strategies.
Mizuho analysts argued Tuesday the valuation gap makes it feasible: Stripe's $159 billion price tag more than triples PayPal's roughly $43 billion market cap. PayPal shares surged nearly 7% following the report; both companies declined to comment.
Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter, that discussions remain at a preliminary stage and may not result in a transaction.
The news arrives as PayPal navigates one of its most turbulent stretches in years - shares are down more than 19% year-to-date after weak fourth-quarter earnings and profit guidance that missed analyst expectations.
What Happened
Mizuho analysts Dan Dolev and Alexander Jenkins said a deal carries strategic logic beyond valuation. Stripe, primarily a business-to-business payments processor, lacks a scaled consumer brand. Acquiring PayPal would bring Venmo, which Mizuho called the "ultimate" peer-to-peer franchise in the U.S.
PayPal's Braintree merchant infrastructure presents a separate draw. Dolev and Jenkins estimated it would add roughly $700 billion in total payment volume to Stripe's current $1.4 trillion annual TPV.
That scale, they argued, would better position Stripe to compete with Dutch payments rival Adyen.
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Why It Matters for Crypto
Both firms have moved into stablecoins, and a combined entity could accelerate that push. Stripe acquired stablecoin infrastructure platform Bridge in 2024, building tools for issuing dollar-backed tokens.
PayPal launched its own dollar-pegged stablecoin, PYUSD, in 2023 through a partnership with Paxos; its market capitalization has since grown to roughly $4 billion.
Mizuho flagged the stablecoin overlap as a potential upside for a merged entity. Whether a deal materializes remains unclear. Stripe co-founder John Collison told CNBC this week the company is not targeting a near-term IPO - without addressing the acquisition report directly.
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