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Chamath Palihapitiya says Stripe’s $53 billion bid for PayPal could reshape the payments landscape far beyond the deal itself.
On the latest All-In podcast, the investor said a combined Stripe and PayPal Holdings Inc. PYPL would be “a shot across the bow” for Visa Inc. V and Mastercard Inc. MA.
The Deal On the Table
Stripe and private equity firm Advent International reportedly offered $60.50 per share, a 28% premium that values PayPal north of $53 billion, backed by roughly $50 billion in bank financing.
PayPal’s board formally rejected that offer at a specially convened meeting today, pushing for a higher price, according to sources cited by Reuters. Analysts widely expect a negotiation rather than a final no, especially after the board reportedly hired Goldman Sachs and Evercore to weigh its options.
Block Inc. XYZ joined the original April approach but exited before the final bid.
Why It Rattles the Card Networks
Palihapitiya’s argument is about scale. Combine PayPal’s 439 million consumer accounts with Stripe’s merchant network and you get a player processing roughly $3.7 trillion a year.
Both sides also run stablecoin rails, including PayPal’s PYUSD, which could push more transactions “on us” and skip the card networks entirely, undercutting the fees that protect the Visa and Mastercard duopoly.
The Antitrust Elephant
A tie-up between two of the largest online payment processors would likely draw immediate fire from the FTC and European regulators.
PayPal’s Braintree competes head-on with Stripe, and clearing a deal could require spinning it out as a remedy, with reviews at this scale often running 18 to 24 months.
That friction may explain why Polymarket traders price a 53% chance Stripe buys at least part of PayPal in 2026, but only 30% for a full takeover this year.
What It Means For Traders
“Big Short” investor Michael Burry has called the bid too cheap, pegging fair value near $100 a share and saying he isn’t selling.
Visa and Mastercard shares have held flat, treated as deal-immune rails for now.
PayPal was worth nearly $360 billion at its 2021 peak and has fallen roughly 90% since. Suddenly it is the most interesting name in payments again.
Image: Shutterstock
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This article Chamath Says Stripe's PayPal Deal Is 'a Shot Across the Bow' for Visa and Mastercard originally appeared on Benzinga.com.
