Pinterest shares soar amid reports of $39bn takeover by PayPal
PayPal, the financial technology company based in San Jose, California, recently approached Pinterest about a potential deal that would value Pinterest at roughly $39bn, according to Bloomberg. The price is close to its market value on Wednesday. PayPal has a market cap of $304bn.
The news sent Pinterest’s share price soaring more than 10% and led to trading in the image-sharing and social media service being suspended twice. PayPal’s share price slumped more than 4%. Neither company has commented on the rumors so far.
Pinterest, based in San Francisco, has more than 478 million active users. The 11-year-old service started as a social media company, offering users a way to store and share favorite images. But it has since expanded its services into visual search and e-commerce. Last year, Pinterest signed a deal with Shopify, an e-commerce platform for online retailers, to allow its customers to create catalogues on Pinterest.
PayPal has benefited from the boom in online shopping since the start of the pandemic. In February, the company said its profits had tripled in the fourth quarter, driven by accelerated adoption of digital payments during the pandemic. Last year was its strongest ever annual performance, with PayPal processing a record $936bn in payments.
