Stripe and Advent abandon PayPal acquisition bid

Stripe and Advent International have pulled out of a deal to buy PayPal, the payments company announced on Thursday. The two firms had offered $60.50 per share, which valued PayPal at around $53 billion. PayPal's board had rejected this price as too low, and talks had continued at higher levels. After the news broke, PayPal's stock fell by up to 15 percent on Friday, making it the biggest loser on both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq that day. PayPal was once worth $360 billion during the pandemic in 2021, so the offer was already far below its peak value. The company has struggled recently with weak earnings and has appointed a new chief executive to lead a recovery.