Tech Payments Digest: PayPal Sale Talks, Google Play Antitrust, and Mastercard Outage

The tech payments landscape is experiencing significant developments, with reports indicating that PayPal is in advanced negotiations for a potential sale to Stripe and private equity firm Advent. This move comes as PayPal's new CEO works to revitalize the company's performance. Meanwhile, Google faces judicial pressure regarding its Play Store practices, with a judge ordering the company to facilitate easier installation of third-party app stores. This decision stems from ongoing antitrust concerns about Google's app distribution model.

Adding to the sector's turbulence, a global outage reportedly caused by a system update led to widespread declines in Mastercard payments. This incident highlights the critical reliance on stable payment infrastructure. In a related legal battle, Apple and Epic Games continue to dispute the fees Apple should receive from purchases made outside its App Store, with Apple proposing a structure to collect fees on external link transactions, a move Epic argues is excessive.