Stripe agrees to buy New York-based OpenRouter; a source says Stripe is paying $7.5B, with $1.5B going to the startup's founders and $6B to investors (Erin Griffith/New York Times)

Stripe is buying New York-based OpenRouter for $7.5 billion, allocating $1.5 billion to the startup’s founders and $6 billion to its investors. The acquisition merges Stripe’s payments platform with OpenRouter’s service that lets businesses direct spending across AI models, positioning Stripe at the forefront of AI-driven commerce. Stripe told investors that January 1 marked the “beginning of the singularity,” and its first-half revenue rose 41% year-over-year.