PayPal sinks 12.7% as $53 billion buyout collapses

Updated on August 31, 2026. · Written by Gregorio

VERIFIED PayPal (PYPL) trades at $53.28, per StockAnalysis data checked on August 31, 2026 (source). Its market cap sits around $45.58 billion. Over the past 52 weeks the stock has traded between $38.46 and $79.22.

VERIFIED This week's slump follows a 12.7% drop on August 28, after the collapse of the takeover bid was confirmed, per Yahoo Finance.

What's behind the drop

VERIFIED A consortium led by private-equity firm Advent International and payments processor Stripe had offered more than $50 billion for PayPal — $60.50 per share, roughly $53 billion in total value — and abandoned the pursuit, per Bloomberg. Had it closed, it would have ranked among the largest leveraged buyouts on record.

HYPOTHESIS Per Forbes, PayPal's board considered the offer too low and had not yet formally responded, suggesting talks broke down over valuation, per Forbes. This is the explanation circulating this week, not a fact independently verified by this site.

What this does NOT mean

HYPOTHESIS Much of the stock's earlier rally reflected speculation around this deal; the deal falling apart says nothing on its own about PayPal's underlying business, only about the price the market was willing to pay while an acquisition was on the table. It also does not rule out another buyer emerging, or PayPal itself buying back shares to support the price — those are just two possible scenarios, not a prediction.

Sources consulted on August 31, 2026: StockAnalysis: PayPal (PYPL), Bloomberg: Advent, Stripe Consortium Drops Pursuit of PayPal, Forbes: PayPal Plunges After Advent, Stripe Abandon Bid.

Educational notice: this article is analysis based on public data, may contain errors, and is not financial advice. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell. The decision and the risk are always the reader's own.