Stripe and Advent's offer to acquire PayPal for over $53 billion seems like a bargain.
PayPal does face several challenges: its core "Branded Checkout" business is losing market share to new competitors like Apple Pay and Google Pay; meanwhile, the company has struggled to effectively convert its massive user base from its peer-to-peer payment app, Venmo, into substantial profits. However, the intensifying competition in the payment checkout sector precisely demonstrates the market's profitability. Even with recent operational difficulties, PayPal still achieved $5.6 billion in free cash flow last year, with net debt of only $2 billion, making it highly attractive to financial investors.
As previously reported, Advent and Stripe have secured $50 billion in bank financing for the deal, meaning the two companies only need to invest approximately $5 billion in equity capital, which they could recoup in less than two years. Calculations suggest that even maintaining the current debt level, the two buyers could theoretically raise their offer to over $70 billion while still achieving a mid-double-digit internal rate of return (IRR), and this doesn't even include potential gains from any operational improvements. (Financial Times)
