PayPal Reportedly Wants to Purchase Pinterest for $45bn

PayPal Holdings Inc has offered to buy digital pinboard site Pinterest Inc for $45bn, people familiar with the matter said, a combination that could herald more tie-ups between financial technology and social media companies in e-commerce. Analysts said the PayPal-Pinterest deal talks highlight the potential for other social media and fintech companies to join forces to capture swaths of the e-commerce market.

The deal talks revealed on Wednesday come as internet shoppers increasingly buy items they see on social media, often following “influencers” on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. Buying Pinterest would allow PayPal to capture more of that e-commerce growth and diversify its income through advertising revenue.

The payments behemoth was among the big winners of the COVID-19 pandemic, as more people used its services to shop online and pay bills to avoid stepping out. Its shares have risen about 36 percent in the last 12 months, giving it a market capitalisation of nearly $320bn.

Pinterest also saw a huge spike in users looking for crafts and DIY project ideas, as lockdown curbs kept people at home. As lockdowns eased, Pinterest has warned about slowing user growth, especially in the United States, its largest market. Pinterest was valued at about $13bn when it went public in 2019.

The company is at a crossroads after co-founder Evan Sharp announced last week he would step down as chief creative officer to join LoveFrom, a firm led by Jony Ive, the designer of many Apple Inc products. Sharp founded the online scrapbook and photo-sharing platform with Ben Silbermann, who is the San Francisco, California-based company’s chief executive officer, and Paul Sciarra, who left in 2012.

PayPal had been looking to boost its e-commerce offerings in recent years through acquisitions. It bought online coupon finder Honey Science in 2019 for $4bn and Japanese buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) firm Paidy for $2.7bn earlier this year. It acquired return-service provider Happy Returns in May.

Social media platforms that have not pursued mergers with fintech firms have been working on ways to allow consumers to buy directly from their platforms. TikTok, for example, is testing a way for users to buy products directly on its short video app. It has partnered with e-commerce giant Shopify and in August began allowing retail brands to link their product catalogues to the app.