[DigitalToday reporter Chi-gyu Hwang] B2B payments platform Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have submitted a joint proposal to PayPal to acquire it for about $53.4 billion.

TechCrunch reported on Tuesday that the two companies made the proposal early this month and had arranged about $50 billion in funding.

If the acquisition goes through, Stripe and Advent International would jointly own PayPal by splitting its stake evenly. PayPal has not made a public comment on the proposal.

A scenario in which Stripe buys PayPal is not being raised for the first time. Reports in February said Stripe was considering a takeover of PayPal and held preliminary talks, but it did not lead to a formal offer at the time.

Both PayPal and Stripe have large-scale operations. PayPal has about 440 million active accounts, and its payment processing volume in 2025 was about $1.8 trillion. Over the same period, payment processing volume for companies using Stripe was $1.9 trillion. Stripe's corporate value rose to $159 billion early this year.

The proposal comes as PayPal pursues cost cuts and a return to growth after issuing a profitability warning. Chief Executive Officer Enrique Lores (엔리케 로레스) took office in March, and PayPal plans to cut at least $1.5 billion in costs over the next 2 to 3 years. There were also reports it would reduce its workforce by about 20 percent.