Stripe Set to Buy OpenRouter as PayPal Enters Sale Talks

PayPal is reportedly in sale talks with Stripe and Advent, while Stripe itself is set to make a major acquisition. The payment processor is said to be discussing a sale process with both a strategic buyer and private equity. The consortium approach, where a strategic buyer pairs up with a sponsor, has been known to drag on due to funding splits, antitrust reviews of overlapping payments businesses, and the sponsor's financing conditions.

However, it's not uncommon for this scenario to play out as a rejected opening bid followed by continued talks. The target's board can either engage formally or hold out for a higher revised proposal, ultimately determining the outcome.

In related news, Nvidia and OpenAI are reportedly close to finalizing a data centre financing deal. This follows a familiar pattern in AI infrastructure, where chip suppliers guarantee or fund their own customers' buildouts. Reduced guarantee sizes signal investor pushback on balance sheet exposure, which has mattered previously in this sequence.

Additionally, Apple is facing opposition from the US administration over its plans to source memory chips from China. This supply chain versus export control tension has historically pushed sourcing towards domestic suppliers, even at a higher cost.