By Ryan Gould and Paige Smith

(Bloomberg) -- A consortium of buyout firm Advent and payment processor Stripe has decided to abandon its pursuit of fintech pioneer PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL), according to people familiar with the matter.

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The group is no longer pursuing a deal for PayPal, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. It had previously offered more than $50 billion for the company, people with knowledge of the matter have said.

Founded in the late 1990s, PayPal was an early mover in digital payments. It has since struggled with modernizing its payment technologies as rivals such as Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. have seized market share.

Bloomberg News first revealed in February that Stripe was considering an acquisition of parts or all of PayPal after a stock slump wiped out a chunk of its value. The takeover interest has helped it recover, with PayPal shares jumping more than 40% this quarter to give the company a market value of about $52.6 billion.

The Wall Street Journal reported this month that PayPal had found Advent and Stripe's initial bid insufficient and the two sides were negotiating a potential higher price.

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The situation is fluid, and Advent and Stripe could still decide to come back at a later date, the people said. Representatives for Advent, PayPal and Stripe declined to comment.

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