company
Payments company in talks to sell itself to Stripe and Advent, mid-turnaround under a new CEO with a $1.5bn cost plan.
No evidence-backed relationships are recorded.
Transaction margin grew 15 points faster than revenue in Q2 2026. For lenders and acquirers, that spread is the benchmark, not headline volume.
Reality
Block's Square unit now lets sellers pay vendors by ACH or check through Bill Pay, paying triple rewards to route those flows, while Stripe negotiates for PayPal.
Reality
Russell Reynolds counted 34% of first-half 2026 S&P 500 CEO appointments going to someone who had already led a public company, up from 22%. Each one closes a promotion chain.
Reality
The CFPB dropped its rule treating buy now/pay later like credit cards. EU affordability checks bite in November, and any US provider selling into Europe inherits them anyway.
Reality
A rejected $60.50-a-share bid has become a negotiation over price, and the structural antitrust objection points at the two assets integrators care about most: Braintree and Venmo.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishersReality