---
title: "PayPals board weighs a 53 billion bid as analysts question the price"
description: "PayPal's board is reported to be meeting as soon as Monday to consider the $60.50-a-share approach from Stripe and Advent International. Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald, Bernstein and Mizuho have questioned whether that price is enough, with Cantor putting fair value nearer $70."
category: "Companies"
category_url: https://boursel.com/category/companies
author: "Rafael Ortiz"
published: 2026-07-19T02:00:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-19T02:00:00.000Z
canonical: https://boursel.com/article/paypals-board-weighs-a-53-billion-bid-as-analysts-question-the-price
tags: ["paypal", "stripe", "m-and-a", "payments", "fintech"]
---
# PayPals board weighs a 53 billion bid as analysts question the price

PayPal's board is reported to be meeting as soon as Monday to consider the $60.50-a-share approach from Stripe and Advent International. Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald, Bernstein and Mizuho have questioned whether that price is enough, with Cantor putting fair value nearer $70.

The question hanging over the largest proposed fintech takeover in years is no
longer whether Stripe wants PayPal. It is whether $60.50 a share is enough to
get it.

PayPal's board is reported to be meeting as soon as Monday to consider the
all-cash approach from Stripe and the private equity firm Advent
International, which values the company at more than $53 billion. The proposal
was [first reported by Reuters](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/15/stripe-advent-offer-to-buy-paypal-for-more-than-53-billion-reuters.html)
on July 15. No party has publicly confirmed it, PayPal has not responded to the
offer, and there is no agreed transaction.

That framing matters. What exists is a reported proposal and a board meeting,
not a deal.

## The terms as reported

The offer is $60.50 a share in cash, a premium of about 28 percent to PayPal's
closing price before the report. Stripe, Advent and Block are reported to be
contributing roughly $17 billion of equity, with the balance covered by
committed bank financing. The bidders are said to have first approached PayPal
in early April, before submitting a formal offer this month, and to intend to
own the company jointly rather than break it up.

PayPal shares rose sharply on the news, which is the ordinary market response
to a credible premium bid, and also the beginning of the problem for the
bidders. Once a stock trades up toward an offer, the original premium stops
looking like a premium.

## Why analysts think it may be light

Several sell-side analysts have questioned whether the price clears the bar.
Cantor Fitzgerald, Bernstein and Mizuho have each raised doubts about whether
$60.50 secures a deal. Cantor's Ramsey El-Assal built a sum-of-the-parts
valuation across PayPal's segments, including Venmo, the branded business, the
unbranded Braintree operation and other peer-to-peer activity, and concluded
that ["perhaps a ~$70/share offer might more fully reflect the intrinsic value
of the company"](https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/cantor-sees-potential-for-higher-paypal-offer-as-analysis-suggests-70share-value-4796358).

The argument for a higher number rests on what a buyer would be acquiring.
PayPal is not a growth story at present, which is why the shares were available
at this level, but it owns assets that are close to impossible to rebuild: a
very large base of consumers who already hold an account and use it at
checkout, the Venmo network, and Braintree on the merchant-processing side. For
Stripe, which is formidable in developer-facing payments infrastructure but has
no consumer wallet, that is the strategic gap the deal would close.

A board considering an offer for assets like those has an obvious response
available: that the bidder needs them more than the target needs to sell, and
should pay accordingly.

## What stands in the way

Three obstacles are worth separating from the price question.

The first is financing. Stripe is private, so this is not a share exchange but
a cash purchase requiring a large committed debt package. That makes the deal
sensitive to credit conditions in a way an all-stock merger would not be.

The second is antitrust. Combining two of the larger payment processors would
attract close review in the United States and Europe, and remedies could reach
the assets that make the deal attractive. Reviews of this size are measured in
many months, during which the target operates under uncertainty.

The third is the board's alternative. A board can decline, seek a higher price,
or invite others to bid. The existence of a public offer often produces
competing interest, and PayPal's directors are under no obligation to answer
quickly.

## What to watch

The immediate signal is the board meeting and whether PayPal responds publicly
at all. After that, the informative number is where the shares settle relative
to $60.50. Trading persistently above the offer indicates investors expect it to
be raised or contested; drifting below indicates doubt that any deal completes.

For now the honest summary is narrow: a reported approach at a price a number of
analysts consider too low, in front of a board that has not said anything.

## Sources

- [Cantor sees potential for higher PayPal offer as analysis suggests $70/share value](https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/cantor-sees-potential-for-higher-paypal-offer-as-analysis-suggests-70share-value-4796358)
- [Stripe, Advent make $53 billion takeover offer for PayPal, sending stock soaring](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/15/stripe-advent-offer-to-buy-paypal-for-more-than-53-billion-reuters.html)