The Stripe story has two possible endings, and they are very different.

Ending one: Stripe lists in 2027 or 2028 at a valuation somewhere above $159 billion — the February 2026 tender offer price — and becomes one of the largest fintech IPOs in history. Patrick and John Collison become public company executives. The seven lines of code that started in 2010 become a public entity.

Ending two: Stripe acquires PayPal for $53 billion. The company that once competed with PayPal absorbs it. The combined entity either lists at a much larger valuation or continues to operate privately, using secondary sales for liquidity. The IPO, if it happens, is delayed by years.

The PayPal acquisition would be, by any measure, audacious. PayPal was the original internet payments company. Peter Thiel and Elon Musk built it. It was sold to eBay, spun out, and became one of the defining brands of the early internet economy. And now it is — per reporting in mid-2026 — being targeted for acquisition by the Irish kid from Limerick who looked at it in 2010 and said: yes, but not for developers.

The Collisons have said, consistently and credibly, that they have no urgency to list. Secondary markets provide employee liquidity. The company is profitable. The investors who backed it in 2010 have been made extraordinarily wealthy already. The IPO is a choice, not a necessity.

The FreeMalta read: If the PayPal deal closes, no IPO before 2028. If it falls through, 2027 is possible. The most likely outcome is that Stripe is still private in 2028, profitable, and continuing to provide liquidity via secondary sales. The Collisons are not in a hurry.