Stripe recently entered exclusive talks to buy OpenRouter in a cash-and-stock deal that would value the startup for close to USD 10bln, The Information reports, citing sources

Stripe recently entered exclusive talks to buy OpenRouter in a cash-and-stock deal that would value the startup for close to USD 10bln, The Information reports, citing sources.

A payments incumbent moving to acquire an AI model-routing layer fits the pattern of infrastructure players buying distribution or orchestration assets rather than building them, a sequence seen repeatedly when a young category's economics are still settling and the strategic buyer values optionality over near-term cash flow. Exclusive-talks status, per a single sourced report, is the stage where deals of this kind most often leak and also most often die quietly; prior form suggests a material gap between exclusive negotiation and signing, with valuation terms typically the sticking point. The cash-and-stock structure is notable for a privately held buyer, since stock consideration requires both sides to agree on Stripe's own mark, which in past private-company deals has proven as contested as the target's. The report also effectively updates Stripe's own implied position, and secondary trading in its shares has historically been where such signals surface first. Worth noting is what the deal says about the routing layer's economics: acquirers in this position have tended to pay for traffic and developer lock-in rather than current revenue. Confirmation, denial, or silence from either party, and any rival bidder emergence, are the usual follow-ons.