Stripe executives said in a letter to investors last week that remaining a private company is providing "growing advantages."

This year marks the start of what Stripe executives call a "major inflection point in a long-term trend," driven by artificial intelligence, Stripe co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison and President John Collison wrote in the letter. The Irish brothers co-founded Stripe in 2010 and still lead the company.

"Being a private company provides growing advantages as we navigate the changes of this era," they wrote in Wednesday's letter, which was also signed by Stripe's President of Technology and Business, Will Gaybrick. Patrick Collison serves as the company's CEO, and John Collison as President.

A Stripe spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the letter on Thursday, which was first reported by newsletter publisher Axios.

Stripe sells payment processing software and hardware, subscription services, and tools that help businesses run their financial operations. The company serves about 5 million businesses, including retail giant Amazon, online commerce company Shopify, and electric truck maker Rivian.

On the same day Stripe sent the letter to investors, it announced its "largest acquisition ever" — the purchase of New York-based startup OpenRouter, which helps businesses route AI work to different vendors and manage AI spending.

"The world is becoming increasingly unpredictable, and we expect every company will need agile leadership," they wrote. "We are fortunate to have a corporate structure that helps us maintain the right long-term direction."

In January, John Collison told Bloomberg that Stripe is "in no rush" to go public. "It's still early for us," he said in a television interview when asked whether he and his brother were still discussing a public stock offering.

A Stripe spokesperson declined on Thursday to comment on how the company views a future public stock offering. In February, Stripe conducted a tender offer to buy employee shares, which valued the company at $159 billion.

"Honestly, since we founded Stripe, this is the fastest period in our industry," John Collison said, citing the rise of agentic commerce and the growth of stablecoin usage. "We have a lot of product transitions and product investments to make, and the company's (capital) structure doesn't change the intrinsic value of the business. We are just focused on running the business."

In September 2024, John Collison said in a Bloomberg podcast discussion that the company would consider an IPO "at some point."

Because Stripe processes $2 trillion in annual payments, representing about 2% of global economic activity, its actions and comments "deserve close attention," TD Cowen analyst Bryan Bergin wrote in a client note Thursday.

"Some of Stripe's fastest-growing businesses are increasingly extending beyond core payment processing," Bergin wrote. "We believe this further validates that software, data, treasury management, fraud, identity, and other services are becoming increasingly important sources of value creation in payments."

Bergin said in an email Friday that Stripe enjoys greater M&A flexibility because it is private. "Private companies like Stripe are not constantly in the public eye due to quarterly reporting, which gives them more flexibility in M&A to take strategic actions that may not pay off immediately (or may be costly in the short term) but can ultimately be successful choices for long-term growth and differentiation," he wrote.

Stripe, which has dual headquarters in Dublin and South San Francisco, California, did not disclose the amount it paid for OpenRouter. The New York Times, citing a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported the deal was valued at $7.5 billion.

Stripe acquired stablecoin platform Bridge in October 2024 for $1.1 billion, as Forbes and other outlets reported at the time. Stripe then acquired New York-based cryptocurrency digital wallet startup Privy in June 2025, and six months later acquired San Francisco-based usage-based billing technology company Metronome.

According to Reuters last month, the company has also reportedly teamed up with Boston private equity firm Advent International to consider acquiring PayPal Holdings. Spokespeople for Stripe, PayPal, and Advent have all declined to comment in the past.

In any case, it is clear from Stripe executives' recent correspondence that they intend to continue expanding to build their digital footprint in commerce.

"It has become clear to us that building the economic infrastructure for the internet is, to a large extent, building the economic infrastructure for AI," Stripe executives wrote.