Can Stripe Save PayPal? & Hollywood’s Ad-Tech Play

Summary

Brew Markets — Episode Summary

Podcast: Brew Markets
Host: Ann Barry
Episode: Can Stripe Save PayPal? & Hollywood’s Ad-Tech Play
Date: July 15, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Ann Barry and her co-hosts break down two of the day’s biggest market stories: Stripe’s headline-making $53 billion bid for PayPal, and the surprising struggles—and strategy—behind boutique streamer Cineverse, which is aiming to morph from a streaming underdog into an ad-tech contender. The discussion explores what these major moves mean for the payments and media industries, investors, and everyday consumers, and touches on fresh earnings results and economic data. The tone is insightful, conversational, and accessible for market-savvy listeners.

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Main Segments and Key Discussion Points

1. Merger Moment: Stripe Bids for PayPal

[00:26–05:26]

Overview:
Ann Barry dives into the reported $53 billion bid by Stripe and Advent International to acquire PayPal—a deal that could reshape the payments sector. She offers context on PayPal’s dramatic stock decline, strategic missteps, leadership churn, and what might be ahead for shareholders.

Key Insights:

• Valuation and Premium:

  • Stripe & Advent's offer is $60.50/share, roughly a 28% premium over PayPal’s price before news broke.
  • PayPal once peaked at a $360 billion market cap (July 2021), but has since declined by 84%, making the current deal at $53 billion a shadow of its former valuation.
    • “But over the past five years that stock price down a whopping 84% up until this bid...” — Ann Barry (02:01)

• Leadership Turmoil:

  • PayPal cycled through three CEOs in under three years, with recent leaders failing to enact a successful turnaround.
  • New CEO Enrique Llores—formerly of HP, not a fintech background—faces the prospect of acquisition before his strategy is tested.

• Industry Impact and Speculation:

  • Stripe’s acquisition would combine its own massive online presence and valuation ($160 billion), with PayPal’s 439 million active accounts and brands like Venmo.
  • Barry speculates about rival bids from the likes of Visa, Mastercard, and even a possible return of Elon Musk:
    • “Elon Musk has long wanted PayPal to be the first super app... so there’s a question as to whether we’ll see X and Musk take a shot at actually buying it here.” — Ann Barry (03:05)
  • The move could catalyze a broader industry shakeup, with PayPal’s data and user base as the main prize.

Memorable Moment:

• “Since PayPal has failed to self medicate in the past, I expect shareholders to take seriously the opportunity to get out and to let Stripe and Advent course correct this business if they can. And they're pretty well positioned to do so if they so choose.” — Ann Barry (02:44)

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2. Market Headlines & Earnings Rundown

[05:26–08:00]

Discussed Companies: Johnson & Johnson, Conagra Brands, Richemont (Cartier), LVMH, Hermes, Kering, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Earnings & Macro Highlights:

• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ):

  • Beat both revenue and profit estimates.
  • Wachstum driven by the psoriasis drug Tremfya (sales up 70% to $2B) and oncology portfolio.
  • Crohn's drug Stelara saw sales plunge over 50% after patent loss.
  • “That's the recurring theme with these drug companies—sales may be strong now, but investors want to feel confident in the drug pipeline.” — John Gratto (05:32)

• Conagra Brands:

  • Posted a $1.6B loss (from last year’s $256M profit), facing pressure from ingredient costs, GLP-1 drugs' impact on food consumption, and a shift to healthier options.
  • Dramatic 50% dividend cut under new CEO, as part of a turnaround push focused on branding and simplifying operations.

• Richemont & Luxury Sector:

  • Cartier owner up 7% after a sales beat.
  • Jewelry up 24% (7th straight quarter of double-digit growth), lifting peers LVMH, Hermes, and Kering.

• Inflation Snapshot (Producer Price Index):

  • PPI fell 0.3% for the first time in almost a year, with annual growth at 5.5%.
  • Core PPI (excluding food and energy) rose 0.2%, “going in the wrong direction relative to where we want to see inflation heading.” — Ann Barry (07:22)

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3. Listener Mail: Cineverse’s Ad-Tech Gamble

[09:20–16:47]

Question from listener Carl Axel:
Why is Cineverse’s stock so low despite analyst buy ratings?

Company Background:

• Ticker: CNVS
• $61 million market cap (true micro-cap)
• Known for niche ad-supported streaming (e.g. Screambox, Bob Ross Channel, First Responders Network).
• 40 million unique monthly viewers, over 1 billion minutes streamed per month.

Strategy & Acquisitions:

• Cineverse is shifting from content distribution to “one-stop shop” for studios—content, distribution, and ad-tech—using a flywheel model.
• Two notable acquisitions in 2026:
  • Giant Worldwide: Legacy Hollywood back-office services.
  • IndieQ: Ad monetization business.
• CEO aims for FY27 revenue of $115–$120M.

Analyst Views & Risks:

• Only two sell-side analysts, both with price targets around $10 (vs. $2.50 current), but execution risk is high.
• “The company guided for revenue...and they're looking at revenue of $115 to $120 million. Execution of course being dependent on that expanded Cinebus flywheel really coming together and working.” — Ann Barry (12:42)
• Cautious comparisons drawn to the collapse of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, which had a parallel library-acquisition, ad-supported model and went bankrupt in 2024.
  • “... the company that was Chicken Soup for the Soul filed for bankruptcy two years ago and is being liquidated...” — John Gratto (15:28)

Industry Context:

• “In 2025, ad-supported viewing hit 74% of all US streaming…every company watching this knows it needs to scale its own ad-supported business quickly and affordably.” — John Gratto (13:27)
• Sector volatility: Even Disney’s share price is down almost 50% in five years. Some analysts (Wells Fargo) argue Disney could add 40% to its stock by ditching streaming and focusing on licensing IP.

Memorable Moment:

• “I looked at buying Redbox once upon a time, by the way, story for another time, but there was a business model with some merit to it.” — Ann Barry (15:23)
• “So I’m just pointing out—there’s so much fluctuation in streaming in general right now, all these companies trying to figure it out.” — John Gratto (16:15)

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4. Quick Market Wrap and Final Thoughts

[17:57–19:30]

Closing Market Stats:

• S&P 500: +0.33%
• Dow: +0.25%
• Nasdaq: +0.61%

Policy Watch:

• Ann Barry highlights Federal Reserve policymaker Kevin Walsh’s testimony:
  • Senators grilled Walsh on AI’s impact on jobs and inflation.
  • He predicts AI will boost productivity; AI-driven CapEx might create a one-time price “step up” but not sustained inflation.
  • “He sort of hedged a bit on AI when it comes to jobs, but he ultimately did say he thinks it would drive productivity.” — Ann Barry (18:28)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “PayPal has failed to self medicate in the past, I expect shareholders to take seriously the opportunity to get out...” — Ann Barry (02:44)
• “Elon Musk has long wanted PayPal to be the first super app that was back during his tenure. So there's a question as to whether we'll see X and Musk take a shot at actually buying it here.” — Ann Barry (03:05)
• “Sales may be strong now, but investors want to feel confident in the drug pipeline.” — John Gratto (05:32)
• “That's a recurring theme with these drug companies...” — John Gratto (05:32)
• “So Syniverse going into that playbook—content plus distribution plus ad tech, that one stop shop thesis.” — Ann Barry (12:17)
• “In 2025, ad supported viewing hit 74% of all US streaming.” — John Gratto (13:27)
• “The company that was Chicken Soup for the Soul filed for bankruptcy two years ago and is being liquidated despite that.” — John Gratto (15:28)
• “Disney’s share price talk about Disney for a moment is down almost half in the last five years... Wells Fargo just came out with a report that if the Walt Disney Company ditched streaming, it could add as much as 40% to the stock price.” — John Gratto (15:39)
• “He ultimately did say he thinks [AI] would drive productivity. And when it comes to inflation, he said that this AI CapEx spend may for now push up prices but does not think that that sort of one time step up is going to be the catalyst for ongoing inflation.” — Ann Barry (18:28)

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Takeaways

• Payments Industry: Stripe’s move on PayPal could spark a wave of consolidation and redefine the digital finance landscape. Shareholders are likely ready for an exit after years of underperformance.
• Media & Streaming: Cineverse is betting on an “ad-tech flywheel” to break out of the micro-cap doldrums, but the whole sector remains deeply volatile—even the big players may need to rethink their strategies.
• Broader Market: Earnings remain mixed across the board, luxury is resilient, and macro numbers hint at inflation easing, but with persistent uncertainties.

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For More

• Listener feedback: The hosts are eager for more questions and comments from the audience.
• Next Episode: Listeners are encouraged to subscribe for more daily recaps, with a promise to dig deeper into Fed policy and tech impacts.

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Transcript

[Emily Miller]

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[Ann Barry]

Brands, the parent company of Slim Jim and Mrs. Butterworths, just cut its dividend. We put eyes on where the company is, redirecting those resources. Cineverse A listener wants to know why the boutique streamer's share price is at an all time low despite the buy ratings. We dig on in and PayPal put into play with a bid from Stripe and Private Equity. We have the latest in today's merger moment for Wednesday, July 15th. It's Brew Markets Daily and I'm Ann Barry. More market details to come. But first, PayPal a case study, unfortunately in wasted potential. But it could be heading into private ownership to unlock that potential at last. In this week's merger moment, payments giant Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have reportedly made a $53 billion bid for the company. The offer is $60.50 a share, about a 28% premium to where PayPal was trading before news of the proposal broke. And while it's still an early stage approach, so there is by no means any certainty around this deal happening yet, this one caught my eye because this particular moment has the potential to reshape the payments industry completely. The bid comes after years of disappointment for PayPal shareholders and I personally talked about this a lot here on the show and on TV. I've been so frustrated with PayPal being slow to take on competitors like Cash App and Apple Pay, even when it was ahead of the game and late to forge into Buy Now Pay later data even as it watched Affirm and After Pay Soar so frustrated that I sold my PayPal shares and took that tax loss while the stock that's Ticker Pypl hit a high of 310 bucks in July 2021. But over the past five years that stock price down a whopping 84 up until this bid, which means this new 53 billion dollar valuation comes in far below its peak of 360 billion. Well, the decline mirrors also a turbulent period in the executive suite. PayPal has had three CEOs in under three years, longtime chief executive Dan Shorman stepping down in 2023 after taking the company to its highs in the pandemic boom. And he was succeeded by former Intuit executive Alex Chris, whose turnaround ultimately fell short of investor expectations, leaving him to depart after only about two and a half years in the top seat. While today the company is led by Enrique Llores, the former CEO of hp, now just a few months ago with a mandate to simplify the business, cut costs and restore growth. But he's not a fintech guy. And now, before his new turnaround has had time to play out, the company is staring a new potential path in the face. And this is just one person's view. It's my point of view. Since PayPal has failed to self medicate in the past, I expect shareholders to take seriously the opportunity to get out and to let Stripe and Advent Course correct this business if they can. And they're pretty well positioned to do so if they so choose. Stripe, of course. Already a private powerhouse in online commerce, valued at nearly $160 billion in its latest fundraising round. Adding PayPal's hundreds of millions of users and Venmo, this deal would create one of the largest digital payments businesses in the world. Well, the big question now on this particular bid is price. Will PayPal's board of directors demand more? Well, there is a board meeting apparently happening next week. So just one person's perspective. It feels like this news was leaked to force a discussion when that board meeting comes around. And there's the bigger question of whether this bid just puts PayPal into play, prompting other giants to take a look at buying it. Elon Musk has long wanted PayPal to be the first super app that was back during his tenure. So there's a question as to whether we'll see X and Musk take a shot at actually buying it here. And there's the question of whether other financial services players will look to absorb PayPal's treasure trove of data. And it's 439 million active accounts. So Visa and MasterCard. I'm looking at you, lots of ways that this could play out. So we're bringing out the popcorn and we're going to keep on watching. We're coming up in a moment. In response to a listener's question, we dive into Cineverse, the boutique streamer looking to transform into an adtech platform. Before we get there, though, a few headlines from the day's trading session, kicking things off with a slew of earnings. Yep, we're back in earnings season. As we settle back in into that time of year. Well, shares in Johnson and Johnson ticker JNJ trading 2% lower over the course of today. That's despite the company beating top and bottom line estimates and doing what we all want to see, raising its full year guidance. The pharma giant psoriasis drug Tremfia and its oncology portfolio did a lot of the heavy lifting this quarter. Sales of Tremfia rose over 70%, hit $2 billion, beating estimates. And that oncology portfolio grew to make up almost 30% of sales.

[Emily Miller]

Right.

[John Gratto]

I suppose the ads for that Tramphia are everywhere and they're working.

[Ann Barry]

Tramphia, that's. Hey, say it. Tramphia.

[John Gratto]

You haven't seen as many ads as I have. Perhaps Johnson and Johnson is also looking to replace sales from its Crohn's disease blockbuster drug Stelara, which lost patent protection last year. And that has led to sharply lower revenue from the treatment, with sales down over 50% in the recent quarter alone. That's the recurring theme with these drug companies. Sales may be strong now, but investors want to feel confident in the drug pipeline. Despite today's drop, shares in JJ are still up 20% this year, pivoting over to food and earnings out of conagra Brands, the parent company of Slim Jim's, Ready Whip and Healthy Choice. The food conglomerate posted a loss of $1.6 billion for its recently concluded fiscal year. Compare that to a profit of $256 million the previous year. All the usual suspects are to blame GLP1's increased costs of ingredients and a general shift of consumer preferences towards foods that appear to be more healthy.

[Ann Barry]

Well, conagra is trying to turn things around under a new CEO who took charge just last month who says he's focused on restoring the company's margins, investing more behind its brands and doing more with its supply chain, including cutting complexity across the business. But the plan does come with a cost of 50% cut to Conagra's dividend where shares initially rose 1 1/2% today. Investors at least wanting to see a plan. But it did slip into the red throughout the trading session. We're rounding out earnings now with a bit of luxury, with shares in Cartier owner richemont gaining over 7% after beating earnings estimates. The company said sales climbed 20% compared to a year earlier, coming in at over $7 billion.

[John Gratto]

Its key jewelry business saw quarterly sales rise 24%, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of double digit growth. Those results had knock on effects across the luxury sector as a whole. LVMH and Hermes both rose over 2.5% and Gucci owner Kering jumped over 4%.

[Ann Barry]

And finally moving out of the headlines into some macro with fresh numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Producer price index fell 0.3% for the month, bringing annual growth to five and a half percent. So that was the first monthly decline in almost a year, but still a big annual bump. Overall PPI inflation slowed, largely thanks to a 12% drop in gasoline prices, though I would say that these numbers of course predate the re escalation of tension in the Middle East. Stripping out food and energy, we saw the core number actually rise 0.2% for the month, less than expected, but nevertheless going in the wrong direction relative to where we want to see inflation heading.

[John Gratto]

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[Emily Miller]

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[John Gratto]

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[Emily Miller]

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[John Gratto]

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[Emily Miller]

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[John Gratto]

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[Ann Barry]

we got a message from a listener. I love these. Let's see what's going on.

[John Gratto]

I love them too. That's right, Carl Axel left us a note on Spotify. Can you guys talk about Syniverse Corp? It has a high forecast, but I wonder why it's so Cheap, right?

[Ann Barry]

Well, Cineverse is not a household name. It's a very small company. In fact, we're going to come back to that. But multiple analysts, though, have given the stock a buy rating. Nevertheless, despite that boost, in perspective from Wall street, we're seeing the share price at all time lows. So to figure out what's going on and answer Carl Axel's question, we're going to dig into the company's recent acquisitions and see what their plan is for the Earbud film franchise. So, John, let's start with some background on the company.

[John Gratto]

Right, so we're talking about Cineverse Corp. Ticker CNVS on the Nasdaq, and it's a true micro cap company, one that is under $300 million. It has a market cap of just $61 million. Small company. It's been around Hollywood for 25 years in different iterations under different names. But in recent years, it's been best known as a content distribution company that operates a streaming service, mostly ad supported. That part is important with niche properties like the Bob Ross Channel, the First Responders Network, and the company's flagship brand that many of our listeners will have heard of, Screambox. And that's where horror fans can see, for example, the Terrifier franchise, which I know horror fans love, featuring Art the Clown.

[Ann Barry]

Well, the company touts that it has a content library that consists of over 66,000 assets. And it's sort of across the board. It's got TV shows, it's got films films, it's even got podcasts. So it's a pretty diversified portfolio when it comes to format. And it does have 40 million unique monthly viewers streaming around a billion minutes of content a month. So it's actually got some real scale when you compare it to some of the other sort of niche players out there.

[John Gratto]

Yeah, it does have some scale. And the company also releases movies into theaters, a few a year. We'll get back to the streaming in a moment. On the earnings call, the company explained why these are low risk, high potential moves, these films, because they start with IP that already exists. It already has an audience built in. The films don't have a very high budget. For example, last year they released a remake of the Toxic Avenger. And next year they're gonna release a new Air bud movie, the 15th in the franchise. And here's the thing, Anne. If the films don't do well in theaters, for example, the Toxic Avenger was a flop.

[Ann Barry]

Despite a great name, Toxic Avenger's a great name.

[John Gratto]

Great and it had a great cast too. Peter Dinklage was in it. Oh, that title just goes onto their streaming service. So they add it to the library. So even if it doesn't do well in theater theaters, it has another life.

[Ann Barry]

Right? Why not just try and make some money out of it some way somehow? Well, let's talk about earnings a bit because the company did report earnings last month and the headline was really around Cineverse's two acquisitions. The company said that it's going to take the business beyond distribution and try to get into more of being an ad tech platform. So let's look at the two things that they bought. The company bought Giant Worldwide. That deal was done in January of 2026 or earlier this year. And it's a legacy back office Hollywood services company with ties to the stud and then it went full on tech. So the opposite of legacy just the next month in February, buying IndieQ, which is an ad monetization business. So with these purchases, what Cineverse is trying to do is make more connections with the studios in order to source content and then also sell more logistics services to those same studios, including an advertising platform. So I'm getting a sense of deja vu here, John. I feel like I read this in lots of other businesses from cyber security through to other outsourced businesses. And the idea is you sort of want to be a one stop shop and you that stickiness, you create that strong relationship and ultimately hopefully recurring revenue. So Syniverse going into that playbook saying it's content plus distribution plus ad tech, that one stop shop thesis. And so the company guided for revenue for fiscal year 2027, which we're basically now in just given the way that their fiscal year end works. And they're looking at revenue of 115 to $120 million. Execution of course being dependent on that expanded Cinebus flywheel really coming together and working as a, as a sing.

[Emily Miller]

Right?

[John Gratto]

And the word flywheel came up so many times on the earnings call and in the earnings report. They're excited about this opportunity because the bet is on. Ad supported streaming. A little fact. In 2025, ad supported viewing hit 74% of all US streaming. So all of the streaming, 74% of it is ad supported. You've got Tubi, you've got Pluto tv. And last month we talked about Fox acquiring Roku ad supported streaming platform for $22 billion. Well, Cineverse's president cited that acquisition as proof of concept for their strategy, saying quote, every company watching this now knows it needs to scale its own ad supported business quickly and affordably. In terms of scale though, Cineverse ended last quarter with a with $3.5 million in cash on the books. Not quite the eye popping numbers of the Roku deal, but they're in that world.

[Ann Barry]

Well, Carl Axel, you asked as you wrote to us to talk about the quote, high forecast. So yes, there are some high forecasts out there. But I really want to put this in perspective. There are only two analysts actually covering this name, at least that we were able to spot. Both of them have rated the stock here buy and while the share price today is around $2.5, the analysts have put out their price target closer to $10. Now the CEO of Syniverse is hopeful, saying that the integration of the two companies is performing better than we thought already. But there's clearly a disconnect between the stock price today and those $10 share price.

[John Gratto]

There's a lot of wait and see I think around this and so why is it so cheap? Carl Axel also asked that. Well, it remains to be seen how these acquisitions are going to work and a new CFO was just appointed, so there's a little bit of turnover. Also there's another company out there that had a similar strategy, I was remembering them today, to acquire film libraries and operate ad supported streaming services. And that was Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment that owned Crackle, that was a well known streaming service, Redbox, which had all those physical distribution locations and then became its own streaming platform.

[Ann Barry]

I looked at buying Redbox once upon a time, by the way, story for another time, but there was a business model with some merit to it.

[John Gratto]

Yeah, well I don't mean to ruin the ending for you, but the company that was Chicken Soup for the Soul filed for bankruptcy two years ago and is being liquidated despite that.

[Ann Barry]

Great name, another great name.

[John Gratto]

And so that model is doing well for these companies, except it hasn't always done well. It doesn't mean that it's a guaranteed home run. And Ann, I just wanted to add this footnote to this conversation. In terms of the streaming wars, they're volatile in general despite what size you are. Disney share price talk about Disney for a moment is down almost half in the last five years. And Disney is trying to make Hulu, their streaming service work as well as Disney plus, that's our other streaming service. Wells Fargo just came out with a report that if the Walt Disney Company ditched streaming, it could add as much as 40% to the stock price. The argument is that Disney could focus on what it does well on that IP and experiences and license out content to higher volume streamers like Netflix. And that bidding war for let's say the animated features, Pixar, Marvel, Star wars, they have so many franchises. Wells Fargo said that it could bring in $15 billion in annual licensing revenue to Disney. So I'm just pointing out there's so much fluctuation in streaming in general right now, all these companies trying to figure it out. And so maybe this niche company that Carl Axel wrote in about can do it.

[Ann Barry]

I also just want to cut through that last comment on Wells Fargo because that's a real, you know, Disney's known for being exceptionally good at monetizing its ip. So I sort of read that Wells Fargo note with a little bit more edge even. I think that was a very pointed comment by Wells Fargo that Disney needs to get execution of what it should be doing and what it's historically been good at. What it says about back on the rails. Right. And then clearly, you know, Wells Fargo looking to the sum of the parts analysis, looking to see what was on the table for Warner Brothers discovery where breaking up the business was clearly at one point on the cards. Well, shares in syniverse are up 25% so far this year. Some pops on those acquisitions, but down 58% year over year. And as we said, those two analysts with their buy rating and $10 share price targets, 1 a little bit outdated, but 2 got to see these acquisitions integrated and that flywheel coming into effect. Well, Carl Axel, thank you for sending that note in. And we love getting those notes. Send them by carrier pigeon, send them by email, send them by snail mail, give us a comment anywhere you get your podcast. Dr. A note on YouTube. We love them all, we read them all and we get to as many of them as we can. Well, it's 4pm on the east coast. The market's wrapping up for the day and we don't have a ticker tape so we're throw it over instead to our human ticker, our producer John.

[John Gratto]

That's right. The market staged an afternoon rally out of the red S&P 500 finished up a third of a percent. The Dow finished the day up a quarter of a percent and the NASDAQ up 610 of a percent for the day.

[Ann Barry]

Well, just as a final thought, when I could bear to stop thinking about the England vs Argentina World cup football game that is happening right this second, I had my eyes attached to the TV screen watching Kevin Walsh in his second day on the Hill he was up there taking lots of questions from senators and particularly on the topic of AI. So I thought we'd just finish up by looking at them. Senators quiz Kevin Walsh on his perspectives on the risk to jobs so to the labor market that's coming from the proliferation of AI and specifically asked whether he thinks that the spend we're seeing on AI CapEx is pushing up inflation. So great politician or policymaker that Kevin Wash is, he sort of hedged a bit on AI when it comes to jobs, but he ultimately did say he thinks it would drive productivity. And when it comes to inflation, he said that this AI CapEx spend may for now push up prices but does not think that that sort of one time step up is going to be the catalyst for ongoing inflation. So I'm going to keep watching this because what Kevin Walsh is saying right now is being watched super carefully by the markets. He's been very clear he doesn't want markets second guessing what rate policy is going to be. But his philosophy at the moment seems to be doubling down on independence, trying to make sure that there's reform. He's got task force we'll go into on another show to try to improve the data that the Fed is using. And definitely he's bullish when it comes to that productivity story. That's it for today's Blue Markets Daily Brew.

[John Gratto]

Markets Daily is hosted by Anne Barry and produced by John Gratto. Talk Dev Delatif Avenue LaRoya and Emily Miller. And bringing to Taco is our audio engineer. And the president of Morning Brew Inc. Is Devin Emery.

[Ann Barry]

Wake up tomorrow with the Morning Brew newsletter and tune in to Neil and Toby on Morning Brew Daily. We haven't seen them in a minute. We'll see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place.