Stripe reached a $159 billion valuation after a new tender offer for employees and shareholders. The payments company announced the secondary transaction Tuesday alongside its 2025 annual letter.
The deal gives current and former employees a chance to sell shares at the new valuation. Most money comes from investors. Stripe also uses some of its own cash to buy back shares.
Liquidity for Employees and Shareholders
Stripe signed agreements with investors to provide liquidity through the tender offer at the $159 billion valuation. Investors include Thrive Capital, Coatue, Andreessen Horowitz and others. The structure has become a regular way for the private company to reward staff without going public.
The tender follows earlier share sales. One in February 2025 valued Stripe at $91.5 billion. Another in September 2025 reached $106.7 billion. The latest figure marks a sharp rise in the company’s worth over the past year.
Record Payment Volumes Drive Growth
Businesses on Stripe processed $1.9 trillion in total volume in 2025. That is a 34 percent increase from 2024 and equals about 1.6 percent of global GDP. The growth shows strong demand for its payment tools.
Stripe stayed robustly profitable. It used profits to fund more than 350 product updates and several acquisitions. Its revenue suite, which includes billing and tax services, is on track to hit a $1 billion annual run rate this year.
Focus Shifts to AI and Stablecoins
The annual letter from cofounders Patrick and John Collison highlights bets on new technology. Nearly every major artificial intelligence product uses Stripe by default. The company works with OpenAI and Microsoft on agentic commerce tools that let AI agents handle payments.
Stablecoin payments doubled to around $400 billion worldwide in 2025. About 60 percent came from business-to-business transfers. Stripe acquired the stablecoin platform Bridge last year. Volume on Bridge more than quadrupled.
The company also bought Privy in July to support programmable wallets. In September it unveiled Tempo, a blockchain for payments built with Paradigm.
Cofounders wrote that Stripe powers 90 percent of the Dow Jones Industrial Average companies and 80 percent of the Nasdaq 100. They added that new customers from 2025 grew faster than those from the year before.
Investor quotes back the optimism. Kareem Zaki of Thrive Capital called Stripe the premier financial infrastructure for the internet economy. Philippe Laffont of Coatue said Stripe is the default financial layer for the token economy in the AI era.
What Comes Next for the Fintech Leader
Stripe has no imminent plans for an initial public offering, co-founder John Collison told Bloomberg. The repeated tender offers let the company stay private while giving employees cash and letting it keep investing.
The firm will continue product development and acquisitions. It plans deeper work on agentic commerce and stablecoins. Revenue from its billing and related services should reach the $1 billion run rate target in 2026.
The tender offer closes a strong year for Stripe. It reinforces the company’s position as one of the most valuable private fintech firms. Businesses and investors watch to see how it uses its new capital and technology edge.
