Stripe is considering a deal to buy some or all of PayPal Holdings, sources told Bloomberg, though talks are still in their very early stages and the deal may not happen.
The news comes the same day Stripe released its annual letter, giving updates on the business. The big news was that Stripe is making a tender offer that values the company at $159 billion, a 74% increase from last year. The investors buying employee shares this time around include Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital. Stripe will also buy back some stock, the letter said.
The latest valuation again makes Stripe one of the industry’s most valuable private companies. Based in Dublin, Stripe’s co-founder and CEO, Patrick Collison, told CNBC recently that going public was not on his list of priorities. PayPal Holdings (which includes the flagship product PayPal and its services, as well as other companies like Venmo) is currently a publicly traded company, with a market cap of around $40 billion.
PayPal’s stock rose slightly after reports of Stripe’s interest in an acquisition. Stripe declined to comment.
