4 minBusiness
Stripe acquisition run draws comparisons to early Google
Stripe has acquired several companies in payments, crypto, and AI since late 2024, including the $7.5 billion purchase of OpenRouter. The fintech firm's strategy mirrors Google's early acquisition spree, though its recent attempt to buy PayPal fell through.
Stripe has been on an acquisition spree that some industry observers say mirrors the strategy that helped transform Google into one of the world's dominant technology companies. Since late 2024, the fintech giant has purchased at least five firms spanning cryptocurrency, account verification, billing software, and artificial intelligence distribution.
The most recent deal, closed this month, was the roughly $7.5 billion acquisition of OpenRouter, a popular AI distribution service. That purchase follows Stripe's acquisitions of Privy and Bridge, two crypto companies specializing in wallets and stablecoins, respectively. The company also bought Ourum, which focuses on account verification and bank transfers, and Metronome, a firm that handles usage-based billing.
Jeff John Roberts, finance editor at Fortune, drew a direct comparison between Stripe's recent activity and Google's acquisition run between 2003 and 2007. During that period, Google acquired ad tech firms DoubleClick and AdSense, the company behind Google Earth technology, and the startups Android and YouTube. Those purchases helped Google consolidate its lead in search advertising while building capacity in mobile and video.
Stripe appears to be pursuing a similar dual strategy. The company is absorbing firms that strengthen its core payment processing business while also building expertise in blockchain and AI, two fields expected to shape the next decade of technology.
Not all of Stripe's ambitions have succeeded. A proposed acquisition of PayPal, developed this spring, fell apart this week after a rise in PayPal's share price made Stripe's original offer of $60.50 per share unattractive. Had the deal closed, it would have given Stripe a large consumer-facing business to complement its merchant-heavy customer base.
James Wester, a research director at Javelin Strategies, said the failed PayPal deal may have been for the best. Wester noted that PayPal's corporate culture would have clashed with Stripe's developer-focused ethos. He also pointed out that Stripe, as a private company, has more limited capital than Google had when it completed major acquisitions after its 2004 initial public offering.
The quality of Stripe's purchases remains difficult to predict. Roberts noted that Google's ad tech acquisitions look like extraordinary bargains in hindsight, but that was not obvious at the time. He also cited a competitor's observation that Yahoo made many acquisitions during the same era, only to decline and be acquired by a phone company a decade later.
Wester expressed cautious optimism about Stripe's strategy. "As much as the analyst in me wants to look at these latest acquisitions for AI and stablecoins with a jaundiced eye, I can't help but think they've been pretty good at this so far," he said, adding that Stripe has shown skill in anticipating where the payments landscape is heading.
Beyond mergers and acquisitions, Stripe shares another attribute with early Google: a talent for public relations. The company's founders have maintained a down-home Irish image, reinforced by the "Cheeky Pint" video interview series. Roberts noted that Stripe rarely makes unforced errors in its public communications, though he suggested this may become harder as the company grows.
Antitrust scrutiny, which eventually slowed Google, could also become a factor for Stripe. Roberts wrote that Stripe is not yet large enough to attract such attention, but he suggested the accumulation of acquisitions could cause legal trouble in the future. For now, he concluded, Stripe occupies a position of being both powerful and well-liked, much as Google did two decades ago.
