Pinterest
Many holders of the stock were disappointed by this figure as it's not significantly higher than the current market price. Adding to this was the departure of co-founder Evan Sharp who had been with the company for its entire tenure with some interpreting this as his disapproval of a sale.
Pinterest's Angle
Pinterest's stock has had a spectacular run since the stock market bottom in March 2020 as the website's usage and user growth numbers exploded. It has also shown increasing traction in terms of its ability to be an e-commerce destination.
However, Pinterest like many tech winners during the pandemic has hit some growing pains. This is being compounded by recent changes at Apple and Google which make ad-targeting more difficult and less lucrative. Therefore, many investors' belief that Pinterest's free cash flow positive ad business could finance the company's e-commerce growth may no longer be valid.
Paypal Angle
Paypal's interest in Pinterest is obvious for a couple of reasons. One is that gives it entry into the 'social commerce' space as the company continues to face competitive threats from companies like Stripe, Affirm, Facebook, Shopify, and Square. Another factor is that Paypal reportedly was outbid by Square for buy now-pay later company, Afterpay in a $29 billion deal.
While Paypay remains the dominant online processor and payment system, its market share is eroding due to a variety of threats. It's hard to imagine at the moment given its dominance, but it's not inconceivable that Paypal could lose its standing despite a first-mover advantage, similar to how Ebay was the original, e-commerce king but eventually fell behind its competitors due to a lack of innovation.
A Pinterest acquisition would put Paypal in a more proactive, aggressive position in the social commerce space, similar to how its competitors are branching out to various adjacent, niches to maintain competitiveness and growth.
