Fintech giant Stripe has emerged as a contender to take over PayPal - Bloomberg

One of the strongest players in the online payment processing market - non-public platform Stripe - is considering acquiring PayPal Holdings or its separate assets, Bloomberg reported citing sources.

PayPal shares jumped sharply after the agency's publication and ended trading on February 24 with a 6.7% growth. On Monday, the company's securities rose by 5% when Bloomberg first reported that it had attracted potential buyers. The bidders were not named.

Agency interlocutors say Stripe has shown preliminary interest, discussions are at an early stage and there is no certainty they will lead to a deal. Representatives of both companies declined to comment to Bloomberg.

"PayPal has obviously fallen on hard times over the last few years, and the landscape has changed markedly with the advent of Apple Pay, Google Pay and everything else," the agency quoted Stripe president John Collison as saying this week. - "I can't talk about any hypothetical M&A deals, but they're definitely having a tough time.

Stripe, founded in 2010 by brothers Patrick and John Collison, has grown into one of the most significant companies in the industry, Bloomberg writes. It was the first to make user-friendly APIs (program keys) for developers, which made connecting payment systems to merchants' software take hours, not months. Among Stripe's clients are Amazon and Google.

The fintech giant said Tuesday that its valuation has reached $159 billion as part of an employee buyout offer. Stripe has been considered an IPO contender for several years now, but in an interview with CNBC, John Collison said a listing is not a key priority for the company because it would distract it from ongoing product and business development.

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