PayPal denies Pinterest acquisition rumours
PayPal announced it will not be pursuing an acquisition of Pinterest following reports that it was planning to buy the pinboard site for $45 billion.
The payment provider’s shares rose 6.2 per cent to $255.20 in premarket trading this morning, while those of Pinterest fell about 10 per cent to $52.50.
The Pinterest deal would have been the biggest acquisition of a social media company at the reported price, surpassing Microsoft Corp’s $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn in 2016.
PayPal has made a number of acquisitions over the past year, including the Japanese buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) firm Paidy, and Happy Returns, a company which helps online shoppers return unwanted merchandise.
The Pinterest acquisition would have allowed PayPal to capture more e-commerce growth, as more shoppers increasingly buy items on social media, often following “influencers” on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and even Pinterest.
Both companies are yet to comment on this.