PayPal Holdings Inc. is in talks to buy social-media platform Pinterest Inc., PINS 12.77% according to people familiar with the matter, a move that could enable the payments giant to play a bigger role in a customer’s shopping experience, Report informs, citing the Wall Street Journal.
The talks are at an early stage and may not lead to a deal, some of the people cautioned. If there is one, it would be big, as Pinterest has a market value of some $40 billion.
Pinterest is an online-sharing platform on which users share photos and links to recipes and home-decor ideas. It makes money from advertisements that appear on the platform, but e-commerce is in its sights, too. In April, Pinterest expanded a partnership it struck in 2020 with e-commerce software provider Shopify Inc. to reach consumers in 27 more countries, up from just the U.S. and Canada previously.
PayPal investors reacted coolly to the potential deal, news of which was first reported by Bloomberg, sending the shares down more than 6% at one point Wednesday. The shares closed down 4.9%. Pinterest shares rose nearly 13%.