This week’s round-up of the latest mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, and account moves includes PayPal, Uber, Deliver Hero, Google, and DAZN.
Deal Desk rounds-up the latest moves across the global affiliate and digital marketing industry and why it matters.
This week, Advent and Stripe come together to bid for PayPal; DAZN enters prediction markets landscape with ADI Predictstreet partnership; and Uber looks set to acquire Delivery Hero.
Advent and Stripe propose to buy PayPal
Private equity firm Advent joined forces with Stripe to make an offer to acquire PayPal for $60.50 per share, which would value the payments giant at over $53bn according to Reuters.
The offer represents a roughly 28% premium of PayPal’s closing share price last week (14 July), and was reportedly offered earlier this month – backed by as much as $50bn from banks in committed financing.
However, industry rumours suggest PayPal’s board is considering whether it is worth opening negotiations for $53bn.
PayPal has struggled since 2022, and faces increased competition since the rise in popularity of rivals like Google Pay and Apple Pay.
DAZN partners with ADI Predictstreet
Sports entertainment platform DAZN has announced an exclusive partnership with ADI Predictstreet to develop and distribute prediction market experiences for sports fans across the globe.
The two platforms will bring a regulated prediction market experience to global fans, who will be able to make bets on live sporting events while watching via the DAXN platform (if eligible).
Shay Segev, chief executive of DAZN Group, said: “Prediction markets are becoming one of the most exciting and rapidly growing forms of digital fan engagement. This exclusive partnership combines ADI Predictstreet’s innovative regulated platform with DAZN’s global reach, premium rights and direct relationship with sports fans in more than 200 markets.
“Together, we have the opportunity to create an entirely new way for fans to participate in the sporting moments they care about most. The United States will be a major focus, and we intend to launch there as soon as the required regulatory framework and licences are in place.”
DAZN and ADI Predictstreet has the potential to be a strong partnership as the interest in prediction markets rises – especially sports becoming more accessible through platforms like DAZN. There’s plenty of options for regulated sports betting (and sadly unregulated too) – but this partnership sets itself apart by being embedded within the event-watching experience.
It will be interesting to see how popular this model becomes and whether we prediction markets start gain momentum outside of the US.
Uber edges closer to Delivery Hero acquisition
Uber looks to set to takeover Delivery Hero in a deal worth around €12.5bn (£10.61bn).
Between them, Delivery Hero and Uber span 99 countries, and had a pro-forma gross merchandise value of $236bn in 2025, according to Delivery Hero.
Uber is reportedly set to offer Delivery Hero shareholders a cash consideration of €41.50 (£35.23 )per share (as of the offer price), implying a fully diluted equity value of €13bn (just over £11bn).
Delivery Hero will not only complements Uber Eats, but also the firms ride hailing and transport platform. This deal will consolidate an already tightly controlled food delivery market. Last year, DoorDash acquired British food delivery service Deliveroo, and Prosus acquired Just Eat, meaning that just a few large companies now control over 90% of the food delivery market. While this could help with day-to-day running costs, it is likely to drive up prices for consumers, who now have fewer choices and less competitive market.
Other notable deals
Zefr has expanded its strategic partner network across Turkey, the GCC, and Egypt with Black C Media and RedC Media to bring AI-powered brand safety solutions to advertisers and agencies. The partnership will bring Zefr’s AI technology together with Black C Media and RedC Media’s local market expertise, agency relationships and hands-on activation support.
GumGum is launching a new AI-powered tool to turn campaign briefs into ‘custom mindset segments’. The Trade Desk will be its launch partner and support the activation of the Mindset Agent.
Gary Vaynerchuk, chief executive of VaynerMedia, has partnered with Paul Street, an affiliate and performance marketing agency. Paul Street boasts clients like IM8 and Branch furniture, and offer purpose built affiliate programmes for direct to consumer brands.
