Advent, Stripe consortium is said to drop pursuit of PayPal, Bloomberg News reports

A consortium of ​buyout firm Advent ‌and payment processor ​Stripe has decided to abandon its pursuit of fintech pioneer PayPal, Bloomberg News ‌reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. PayPal and Stripe declined to comment, ‌while Advent could not immediately be reached for comment outside ‌regular business hours. The payments company, once the crown jewel of American financial technology, received a $60.50-per-share bid from Stripe and private equity firm Advent International, ⁠which ​valued it ⁠at more than $53 billion, Reuters reported in July, citing sources. The offer is ⁠a fraction of the roughly $360 billion valuation PayPal commanded as a ​pandemic-era darling in 2021. PayPal's board saw the takeover bid ⁠as inadequate and said it faced regulatory and financing hurdles, Reuters had ⁠previously reported. ​PayPal has not formally responded to the proposal.

The consortium's bid came as PayPal, founded in the late 1990s, ⁠has struggled in recent years to compete with rivals such as ⁠Apple Pay ⁠and Google Pay, with management trying to revive its flagging share price amid slowing growth.