Stripe Wants to Buy PayPal After Getting Nigeria's Paystack

Stripe, the big name in online payments, made waves in 2020 by buying Nigerian fintech company Paystack for more than $200 million. Now, the company is thinking even bigger. Reports say Stripe is in early talks to buy all or part of PayPal, another payments giant. This news came from Bloomberg on Tuesday, and it quickly boosted PayPal’s stock price by almost 7 percent. Investors got excited about the idea of a deal that could change the global payments world.

Both Stripe and PayPal refused to comment on the story. But the timing makes sense. PayPal has had a tough time lately. Its stock dropped 19 percent just this year and lost a third of its value over 2025. Stripe, on the other hand, is doing great. The company reached a $159 billion valuation after a recent stock sale, up from $91.5 billion a year earlier.

PayPal’s problems started with slower growth and tougher competition in digital payments. The company just picked Enrique Lores, who used to work at HP, as its new CEO. He starts in March. This came after PayPal warned investors about lower profits than expected, which shook up the market. For a long time, PayPal led the way in online payments. But now, rivals like Stripe, Square, and many new fintech startups are taking over. These newcomers offer better tech and grab more customers.

Stripe is growing fast in the other direction. It expects to hit $1 billion in yearly revenue this year. In January, it bought a billing startup called Metronome. Stripe is now one of the world’s most valuable private companies. Co-founder John Collison told CNBC that an IPO is not on the cards yet. The focus is on building better products and expanding the business.

This potential deal means a lot for Nigeria and Africa’s fintech scene. Stripe’s purchase of Paystack in October 2020 was its first step into Africa and one of the biggest fintech sales on the continent back then. It gave Stripe a strong hold on Africa’s payment systems.

PayPal has its own story with Nigeria. Last month, after 20 years away, it finally came back. It teamed up with local fintech Paga to let Nigerians get money from abroad and withdraw it in naira. Back in 2004, PayPal blocked Nigerians over fraud worries. That kept millions of freelancers and online sellers from getting global payments for two decades.

If Stripe buys PayPal, it would unite Paystack and PayPal under one company. Both now work in Nigeria but in different ways. Paystack was made from scratch for African businesses. PayPal returned using Paga’s setup and its 21 million users.

The talks are just getting started, so nothing is sure yet. But if it happens, the new company would be a huge player in payments. It would cover rich markets and growing ones like Africa, where Stripe got its start with Paystack. This could shake up how money moves around the world, especially in places like Nigeria where digital payments are booming.

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