Can Stripe Save PayPal? & Hollywood’s Ad-Tech Play

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**Ann Berry** (0:28)
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PayPal, put into play with a bid from Stripe and private equity. We have the latest in today's merger moment. For Wednesday, July 15th, it's Brew Markets Daily and I'm Ann Berry.
More market details to come, but first, PayPal. A case study, unfortunately, in wasted potential, but it could be heading into private ownership to unlock that potential at last in this week's merger moment. Payments giant Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have reportedly made a $53 billion bid for the company. The offer is $60.50 a share, about a 28% premium to where PayPal was trading before news of the proposal broke.
While it's still an early stage approach, so there is by no means any certainty around this deal happening yet, this one caught my eye because this particular moment has the potential to reshape the payments industry completely. The bid comes after years of disappointment for PayPal shareholders. I personally talked about this a lot here on the show and on TV. I've been so frustrated with PayPal being slow to take on competitors like Cash App and Apple Pay even when it was ahead of the game. And late to forge into Buy Now Pay Later even as it watched Affirm and After Pay soar. So frustrated that I sold my PayPal shares and took that tax loss. Well, the stock, that's ticker PYPL, hit a high of 310 bucks in July 2021 But over the past five years, that stock priced down a whopping 84% up until this bid, which means this new $53 billion valuation comes in far below its peak of 360 billion.
Well, the decline mirrors also a turbulent period in the executive suite. PayPal has had three CEOs in under three years, longtime chief executive Dan Shulman stepping down in 2023 after taking the company to its highs in the pandemic boom. And he was succeeded by former Intuit executive Alex Chris, whose turnaround ultimately fell short of investor expectations, leaving him to depart after only about two and a half years in the top seat. Well, today, the company is led by Enrique Lórez, former CEO of HP.
Now, he took over just a few months ago with a mandate to simplify the business, cut costs and restore growth. But he's not a fintech guy. And now, before his new turnaround has had time to play out, the company is staring a new potential path in the face. And this is just one person's view. It's my point of view. Since PayPal has failed to self-medicate in the past, I expect shareholders to take seriously the opportunity to get out and to let Stripe and Advent course correct this business if they can. And they're pretty well positioned to do so if they so choose. Stripe, of course, already a private powerhouse in online commerce, valued at nearly $160 billion in its latest fundraising round. Adding PayPal's hundreds of millions of users and Venmo, this deal would create one of the largest digital payments businesses in the world. Well, the big question now on this particular bid is price. Will PayPal's board of directors demand more? Well, there is a board meeting apparently happening next week. So just one person's perspective, it feels like this news was leaked to force a deal discussion when that board meeting comes around. And there's the bigger question of whether this bid just puts PayPal into play. Prompting other giants to take a look at buying it. Elon Musk has long wanted PayPal to be the first super app that was back during his tenure. So there's a question as to whether we'll see X and Musk take a shot at actually buying it here. And there's the question of whether other financial services players will look to absorb PayPal's treasure trove of data and its 439 million active accounts. So Visa and MasterCard, I'm looking at you. Lots of ways that this could play out. So we're bringing out the popcorn and we're going to keep on watching.