PayPal’s board has thrown cold water on a record-breaking takeover attempt, rejecting a $60.50-per-share offer from Stripe and private-equity firm Advent International that valued the payments giant at roughly $53.4 billion. The decision, announced after a hastily convened Monday meeting, came with a clear message: the company is worth closer to $70 a share. Goldman Sachs and Evercore have been hired to evaluate strategic alternatives, keeping the door open for a higher bid.
The rebuff landed on a day when PayPal shares slipped 1.59 percent to €48.99, giving back some of the explosive gains that had sent the stock soaring 32.98 percent over the prior 30 sessions. That rally — built on restructuring optimism and a wave of cost-cutting announcements — had already pushed the 14-day relative strength index to 78.6, deep in overbought territory. The bid news added a new layer of intrigue: the board’s rejection signals that management believes the underlying business is worth far more than the market was pricing even before the offer.
At the heart of the bullish case is CEO Enrique Lores, who took the helm on March 1 and has since announced plans to eliminate roughly 4,760 jobs — about 20 percent of the workforce — targeting $1.5 billion in annual savings. PayPal holds $13.5 billion in cash and generated $6.4 billion in free cash flow in 2025, allowing it to repurchase $1.5 billion of its own stock in the first quarter alone. Venmo, the peer-to-peer payment app widely seen as the crown jewel in any potential acquisition, now boasts 100 million users, with 67 million active monthly and revenue rising 20 percent last quarter. Transaction volumes on Venmo grew 14 percent year over year in the latest period, while Buy Now, Pay Later volumes jumped 23 percent and “Pay with Venmo” volumes surged 34 percent.
Yet the board’s demand for $70 faces a skeptical market. Analysts’ consensus price target sits at €45.92 — roughly 6.8 percent below the current level — and the company itself has warned of a difficult second quarter. Management expects low single-digit currency-neutral revenue growth, a declining transaction margin, and adjusted earnings per share down around 9 percent compared with a year ago, when PayPal benefited from a partner extension and a lower tax rate. That downbeat forecast stands in stark contrast to a stock that now trades 25.97 percent above its 50-day moving average and 10.34 percent above the 200-day average of €44.67.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying PayPal?
Some analysts are skeptical that the bid rejection will spark a bidding war. William Blair’s Andrew Jeffrey argued that Lores is unlikely to accept what reads as a lowball offer, while other houses maintain price targets closer to the initial bid. The financing firepower is there — the Stripe-Advent consortium has lined up $50 billion in bank financing and $17 billion in equity — so a revised offer remains plausible. Cantor Fitzgerald sees fair value at $70, Davis Park Management at $65.20, and noted investor Michael Burry, who holds a known PayPal position, pegs intrinsic value at $75 to $80, with an optimistic scenario reaching $115.
The technical picture adds tension. With an RSI of 76.9 — even slightly lower than the primary article’s reading, but still overbought — the stock has priced in a continuation of deal talks, not necessarily a successful outcome at the board’s asking price. The 52-week high of €70.78 from October 2025 remains about 31 percent above the current level, a reminder of how far the stock has yet to climb to justify the board’s valuation.
The next major catalyst arrives on July 28, when PayPal reports second-quarter earnings. That report will either validate the board’s confidence by showing margin stabilization and solid operational performance, or it could expose the gap between the stock’s elevated multiple and the reality of declining adjusted earnings. For now, the board has bought itself time and hired bankers to explore options — but the overbought rally and the soft guidance are a volatile mix, and one disappointing number could trigger a sharp correction toward the 200-day moving average. The takeover drama has raised the stakes, but it hasn’t erased the fundamentals.
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