PayPal was tumbling early Friday after a report that potential buyers of the payments company have walked away from negotiations. Shareholders will have to put their faith in the company's turnaround plans instead.
Financial-technology company Stripe and private-equity firm Advent International have given up on acquiring PayPal after offering more than $50 billion for the company, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Stripe and Advent declined to comment on the report. PayPal didn't immediately respond to a request for comment early Friday.
PayPal shares were dropping 14% in premarket trading to $52.85. The stock closed at $61.47 on Thursday, giving it a market valuation of around $52.6 billion. Shares topped $300 in 2021, when the company was valued at more than $280 billion.
If the quick win of a takeover premium is off the table, there's still hope that CEO Enrique Lores, who took the helm in March, can bring better days for the stock.
Firstly, there's the existing strength of PayPal's brands. The company processes nearly $2 trillion in payment volumes annually, has just under 440 million active accounts, and owns the most prominent U.S. peer-to-peer network in Venmo. It is one of just four globally recognized payment networks, alongside Mastercard, Visa, and American Express.
However, PayPal's branded checkout business, which allows merchants to convert sales through the company's platform, has been under pressure. Meanwhile, Big Tech rivals such as Apple Pay and Google Pay have muscled in on its digital-wallet share.
So the second cause for optimism is the reorganization in its turnaround strategy. PayPal is planning a reorganization that would separate its three business segments: checkout, consumer financial services, and payment processing. That could provide more focus for its operations or facilitate a spinoff of part of its business in future. It is also aiming for $1.5 billion in gross run-rate savings over the next two to three years.
The company's most recent quarterly results offered some positive signals. Second-quarter revenue rose 5% to $8.68 billion, beating expectations, while PayPal raised its profitability outlook.