Stock Market Today, Feb. 24: PayPal Jumps on Takeover Interest and Unusually High Trading Volume
PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), a global digital payments technology platform, closed Tuesday at $47.02, up 6.74%. The stock rose after fresh reports detailed unsolicited takeover interest and potential suitors, and investors are watching whether formal offers or asset-sale plans emerge next.
Trading volume reached 57.8 million shares, about 187% above its three-month average of 20.1 million shares. PayPal IPO'd in 2015 and has grown 24% since going public.
How the markets moved today
The broader markets advanced Tuesday, with the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) rising 0.77% to 6,890 and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) gaining 1.04% to finish at 22,864. Within credit services, sector rival Adyen (OTC:ADYEY) closed at $11, down 1.08%, as investors weighed differing growth paths and product strategies across payment platforms.
What this means for investors
PayPal’s stock movement on Tuesday can likely be attributed to reports that payments processor Stripe could be interested in acquiring all or part of PayPal’s business. Stripe is a private company, but a recent employee tender offer valued it at $159 billion. Assuming that’s true, an acquisition of PayPal, which has a market cap of approximately $44 billion, would be a substantial addition.
These rumors follow a turbulent couple of weeks where CEO Alex Chriss was ousted by the Board and replaced by Board Chair Enrique Lores. Chriss had been steering the company through an increasingly competitive fintech market. Investors should keep an eye out for potential changes in direction and see whether the new leadership can deliver improved results.
Should you buy stock in PayPal right now?
Before you buy stock in PayPal, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and PayPal wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $409,970!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,174,241!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 889% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 192% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of February 24, 2026.
Jeff Santoro has positions in PayPal. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Adyen and PayPal. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2027 $42.50 calls on PayPal and short March 2026 $65 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Recommended Articles
