Feb 23 (Reuters) – Digital payments company PayPal is attracting takeover interest from potential buyers after a stock slide, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, \u200cciting people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n
The payments firm has fielded meetings \u200cwith banks amid unsolicited interest from suitors, the report said, adding that at least one large rival \u200bis looking at the whole company, while some other suitors are only interested in certain PayPal assets.<\/p>\n
Buyer interest in PayPal is still at a preliminary stage and may not lead to a transaction, the Bloomberg report said.<\/p>\n
PayPal, which has a market \u200ccapitalization of more than $38 billion, \u2060declined to comment on the report. Reuters could not independently verify the report.<\/p>\n
Shares of the company were last up 7% in \u2060afternoon trading. They have lost about 85% of their value since hitting a record high in mid-2021.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, PayPal replaced CEO Alex Chriss, who was appointed to steer \u200bthe \u200bpayments firm through slowing growth and intensifying \u200bcompetition. It issued a weak profit \u200cforecast for 2026 that fell well short of Wall Street expectations.<\/p>\n
The company’s board, which named Chair Enrique Lores as its new president and CEO, had said the pace of change and execution under Chriss was not in line with its expectations.<\/p>\n
PayPal also flagged weaker retail spending as shoppers, squeezed by elevated interest rates, \u200cpersistently high cost of living and signs of \u200ba softening labor market, cut back on discretionary \u200bspending and focus on essentials.<\/p>\n